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HOW TO MAKE A 





BY 





at 
FRANKLIN BOBBIT Ben as 
Professor of Educational Administration LOGICAL seth 


The University of Chicago 





HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 
The Riverside Press Cambridge 


COPYRIGHT, 1924 


BY FRANKLIN BOBBITT 


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


Che Riverside Press 
CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. 


PREFACE 


WE are here presenting the plan of approach to the 
problems of curriculum improvement that was em- 
ployed recently in Los Angeles. It was designed to 
serve two purposes. The minor one was that in- 
considerable amount of revision of current courses 
which is advisable at any one time. The major purpose 
was the inauguration of a program of curriculum im- 
provement which will require a generation or more for 
its consummation. ‘This is not to say that we could 
foresee the developments of a generation. All that 
was possible was to take our bearings with the greatest 
care, conscious of the unreliability of our professional 
instruments of guidance. It is believed that these are 
reliable enough to show us the general route to be 
traveled; and that vision of the exact road will develop 
as the experience of each step throws its light forward 
over the next beyond. 
FRANKLIN Bossitt 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
In 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/nowtomakecurricu0Obobb 


CONTENTS 


. PRELIMINARY SURVEY 

. THE OBJECTIVES 

. SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO OBJECTIVES 
. Puprt ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 

. GENERAL EDUCATION 

. LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 

. THE SOCIAL STUDIES 

VIII. 


. MATHEMATICS 


NATURAL SCIENCE 


. PoysicAL DEVELOPMENT AND MalIn- 


TENANCE 


. UNSPECIALIZED PRactTIcAL ACTIVITIES 
. UNSPECIALIZED PracticaL ARTS OF MEN 
. PracticaL Arts oF WOMEN 

. Drawine, Desicn, Visuau ART 
. Music 

. ENGLISH EXPRESSION 

. Moprern LANGUAGES 

. LATIN 


. ADMINISTRATIVE SUGGESTIONS 


INDEX — 


129 
146 


165 
177 
199 
209 
219 


229 


238 
256 
267 
280 
287 


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HOW TO MAKE A 
CURRICULUM 


CHAPTER I 
PRELIMINARY SURVEY 


THE engineer who plans the construction of a railroad 
from Omaha to Los Angeles, let us say, begins his work 
by taking a general over-view of all the region which 
lies between. He examines in a general way the lay of 
the land: the hills, mountains, plains, rivers, valleys, 
plateaus, passes, slopes, canyons, cities, populated and 
vacant regions, and the like. On the basis of this pre- 
liminary observation, he plans the general route of the 
line. Laid out on a map of ordinary scale, it will show 
in about the position where the road will ultimately be. 
Yet to this point he has not once taken up his surveying 
instruments for laying out the exact position of the line, 
its distances, its grades, and its curves. This latter 
labor is indispensable, but it isa subsequent step. The 
first step is the broad survey of all of the factors; and 
the preliminary laying-out of the general line of the 
route. 

To plan the route that a growing man must travel 
from infancy to the goals of his growth, his culture and 
his special abilities, is an immeasurably more compli- 
cated task than the simple one of planning a thin steel 


2 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


line across the continent. Within man and in the 
social world at large there are spiritual mountains, 
morasses, plains, storm-regions, valleys, deserts, 
quicksands, and a host of other similar things through 
the midst of which man’s developmental growth-route 
must lie. And to complicate the matter, the route is 
not a single line leading to a single goal, but an end- 
lessly complex network of lines leading to a multiplicity 
of goals. 

The first step of the educational engineer is to take a 
broad over-view of the entire field of man’s life by way 
of seeing the major factors in perspective and in re-~ 
lation. On the basis of this preliminary over-view, he 
will plan the general educational route to be followed, 
This general route must be laid out before he is ready 
to undertake the accurate surveys of the details. It is 
a far more difficult task than that of the railway engi- 
neer because of the intangible, uncertain, and fluctu- 
ating character of so many of the factors. The best 
maps and charts of man’s nature and of human affairs 
that are available are admittedly inaccurate and in- 
complete. One will, however, use the best that are 
available; and he will himself have lived the life of man, 
participated in social affairs and observed widely, so as 
to know the various matters at first-hand. With all of 
these helps, in the present state of human and social 
science, he will move much of the time with a sense of 
great uncertainty. 

And yet the educational engineer cannot evade this 
first indispensable step of laying out the general route. 


PRELIMINARY SURVEY 8 


However keenly aware of his uncertainties, he must 
still do the best that is possible, trusting that as the 
work proceeds he may be able to correct any errors 
made. 

This volume relates to the preliminary step of laying 
out the general educational routes. One who has had 
long experience within the field comes to be keenly 
conscious of his uncertainty relative to innumerable 
factors. The best statement possible at present on the 
part of any one can be only probability; and at times 
nothing more than possibility. Not often, even in the 
more familiar portions of our field, can there be even 
relative certainty. While things are here usually 
stated with positiveness for the sake of definiteness 
and clearness, yet there can be no present justification 
for any degree of dogmatism in the statements. They 
are tentative. 

In dealing with difficult professional problems, so 
long as there is no solution capable of scientific veri- 
fication, our profession is in a mood to leave the matter 
in the form of a question. This, of course, is a healthy 
state of mind for either educational investigator or 
practitioner. The practitioner, however, cannot act 
on the basis of questions. Hecan act only as there isa 
solution. A tentative solution on the basis of the best 
evidence available is better for him than a question. 
He ought, of course, to realize that it is tentative and 
problematical; but so long as it represents the best 
solution at which he is able to arrive, it is the safest 
thing for his purposes. 


4 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


A second thing we would greatly emphasize. It is 
that a curriculum-making group should not take its 
thought second-hand. It should do its own seeing, 
thinking, judging, and deciding. It should for itself 
lay out the general routes to be followed by children 
and youths as they travel their educational journey. 
As we suggest a general route, therefore, we are in the 
main merely presenting a pattern of kinds of things 
that ought to be done for itself by each curriculum- 
making group. | 

There are numerous educationists at present, mainly 
scientific investigators, who believe that we can evade 
this preliminary step of broad general planning of the 
educational routes. They are certain of a few of the 
goals to be attained, and of some of the lines to be 
traveled in achieving them. For example, they are 
certain that the ability to read, to write, to spell, to 
compute, to use language grammatically correct, and to 
perform the specific tasks of one’s vocation are proper 
developmental goals. They believe that the thing to 
be done now is to take our educational surveying in- 
struments and accurately to locate the exact goals 
within these fields, and the exact details of the pro- 
cedure to be employed. 

In this latter contention there can be no question as 
to the validity of their position. For the matters 
enumerated, in their general outlines, we have been 
clarifying our professional vision for centuries. Weare 
certain of these goals and reasonably certain of the 
major lines of procedure to be followed. It is clearly 


PRELIMINARY SURVEY 5 


time for an accurate study of the various factors in- 
volved. ‘This is an indispensable second step which 
must be taken before we can have completed our 
educational planning. Fortunately, this work is being 
rapidly carried forward by numerous investigators in 
all parts of the country.! 

In spite of the abundance at present of these accurate 
surveys of the details, this is clearly not yet the major 
task of educational engineering. While we have © 
located a few of the goals with considerable exactness 
and some of the roads to their attainment, yet as a 
matter of fact our profession is exceedingly uncertain 
as to what most of the goals are; and among these 
appear to be some of the most important ones. And not 
knowing the goals, naturally the roads to be traveled 
bave not been, and cannot yet be, located. 

The major task of curriculum-making at present is 
this discovery of the goals in a general way and this 
planning of the general outlines of the routes. As these 
matters are defined, one after the other, the obvious 
ones first and the more elusive ones later, then the 
accurate analyses can be made for determining the 
exact details. This second step must await the first. 

In the labor of curriculum-making, one may take the 
short view or the long view. When a school system is 
confronted with the immediate task of revising its 
courses of study, it looks not to the far future but to the 


1 Surveys of this character that have been made to date, some 
fifty-four in number, have been summarized in the valuable volume 
by Professor W. W. Charters, entitled Curriculum Construction, 
(Macmillan, 1923.) 


6 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


work which is possible or desirable during the next 
year or two. On the other hand, viewing the present 
educational situation in the light of our past history 
and also in the light of current demands upon edu- 
cation, we can confidently predict a generation-long 
program of curriculum improvement. This latter will 
of course be the sum of the many small improvements 
made year by year as the immediate labors are per- 
formed. 

In this volume we are looking both to the generation- 
long process of curriculum advancement and also to 
the immediate labors of preparing courses of study for 
next year for any particular school system. We are 
looking to the long program as guidance for the steps 
of the short programs. In the nature of the case, the 
immediate changes in any one year must be relatively 
small. ‘“‘Next steps” in man’s progress must always 
be relatively short. But the many short steps make 
up the long journey. That the short steps of progress 
be in right directions, it is indispensable that one have 
the long view of the long journey. In laying out the 
latter, therefore, so far as we do not go astray, we are 
making the best provision for taking the immediate 
short steps. 

In suggesting the long view, there is no thought that 
any one who is really fit for educational leadership will 
misunderstand and be so foolish as to attempt to go all 
the way at a single step. 


CHAPTER II 
THE OBJECTIVES 


For a number of years the world has been in a state of 
unusual unrest. Social currents have been moving in 
strange, threatening and often disastrous ways. They 
have carried us far from where we were only a few years 
ago. And the present speed of change indicates that 
we have yet far to go. 

Because of the social changes, education must shift 
its ground in fundamental ways. It must perform 
functions which it has not hitherto attempted; and dis- 
continue labors no longer serviceable. 

It is easy to make changes. There are many who 
delight in any kind of change, and feel that they are 
making progress when they are making changes. But 
merely shifting position is not necessarily progress. 
There are more ways of going wrong than of going 
right. The status quo is usually better than changes in 
wrong directions. Curriculum-making must find 
guiding principles which will lead it with all the 
certainty that is possible in right directions. 

It is helpful to begin with the simple assumption, to 
be accepted literally, that education is to prepare men 
and women for the activities of every kind which make 
up, or which ought to make up, well-rounded adult life; 
that it has no other purpose; that everything should be 
done with a view to this purpose; and that nothing 


8 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


should be included which does not serve this purpose. 

Education is primarily for adult life, not for child 
life. Its fundamental responsibility is to prepare for 
the fifty years of adulthood, not for the twenty years of 
childhood and youth. 

When we know what men and women ought to do 
along the many lines and levels of human experience, 
then we shall have before us the things for which they 
should be trained. The first task is to discover the 
activities which ought to make up the lives of men and 
women; and along with these, the abilities and personal 
qualities necessary for proper performance. These are 
the educational objectives. 

The plan to be employed is activity-analysis. The 
first step is to analyze the broad range of human 
experience into major fields. The lines can be drawn 
in any number of ways. Each curriculum-making 
group will make the divisions that seem best to it for 
its purposes. The following is a classification that has 
been found serviceable: 

1. Language activities; social intercommunication. 

2. Health activities. 

8. Citizenship activities. 

4. General social activities — meeting and mingling with 

others. 

5. Spare-time activities, amusements, recreations. 


6. Keeping one’s self mentally fit— analogous to the 
health activities of keeping one’s self physically fit. 


7. Religious activities. 


8. Parental activities, the upbringing of children, the 
maintenance of a proper home iife. 


THE OBJECTIVES 9 


9. Unspecialized or non-vocational practical activities. 
10. The labors of one’s calling. 


While the curriculum-maker may desire to analyze 
the field along entirely different lines, he will be careful 
to see that his analysis omits no portion of the broad 
range of desirable human experience. Many matters 
will be taken care of through the normal processes of 
living, and without any systematic educational labor. 
Other matters will be left to non-scholastic agencies. 
But in the original analyses of human experience, the 
whole field should be viewed in order that the portions 
which belong to the schools may be properly seen, 
within themselves, and in relation to the whole. 

The major fields of human action having been de- 
fined, the second step is to take them, one after the 
other, and analyze them into their more specific 
activities. In this analysis, one will first divide his 
field into a few rather large units; and then break them 
up into smaller ones. This process of division will 
continue until he has found the quite specific activities 
that are to be performed.! 

At all stages of the analyses, attention should be 
fixed upon the actual actwities of mankind. In part the 
analyses will be made on the basis of simple observa- 
tion. This is all that is needed so long as there is virtual 
unanimity on the part of all objective-minded analysts 
of the situation. This will largely be the case with the 
major units, and their larger subdivisions. As the an- 


1 For detailed information relative to these analyses, see Charters, 
Curriculum Construction, chaps. Iv-Ix. 


10 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


alyses approach the units that are minute, numerous, 
and interrelated with each other, and especially when 
accuracy demands quantitative definition, careful 

scientific assembling of the facts becomes necessary. _ 

The activities once discovered, one can then see the 
objectives of education. These latter are the abilities 
to perform in proper ways the activities. The two are 
cognate, but not identical. For brevity, it is possible to 
state the two together in the way shown subsequently 
in this chapter. 

In the following list of objectives, the several major 
fields are divided into their principal subdivisions. We 
have not here attempted to go into the more minute 
subdivisions. We have held, in the main, to those 
which represent the practically unanimous judgment 
of some twenty-seven hundred well-trained and ex- 
perienced adults. In a number of cases, however, 
where the field is complex or obscure, the items repre- 
sent only majority approval. They are still upon the 
level of hypothesis and require further study and 
analysis. They are attempts to define regions of fields 
which we know exist, but the details of which are yet 
obscure. We cannot ignore these regions simply be- 
cause our knowledge of them is incomplete. We must 
define them as best we can for working purposes; and 
then further clarify our vision through the two methods 
of scientific research and of dealing practically with 
them. It is well to have a proportioned vision of the 
whole field even though many spots be obscure and 
problematical. 


THE OBJECTIVES 11 


The following ! is presented merely to illustrate the 
kind of statement of objectives that appears to be 
needed — on this particular level of generality. The 
curriculum-making group will formulate its own 
statement on the basis of its understanding of the 
realities. 


Masor OBsEcTIVES OF EDUCATION 
I. Socrat INTERCOMMUNICATION 


1. Ability to use language in all ways required for proper 
and effective participation in the community life. 


2. Ability effectively to organize and present orally one’s 
thought to others: (a) In conversation; (b) In recount- 
ing one’s experiences; (c) In more serious or formal dis- 
cussion; (d) In oral report; (e) In giving directions; (f) 
To an audience. 


8. Ability to pronounce one’s words properly. 


4. Ability in speech to use the voice in ways both agree- 
able and effective. 


5. Command over an adequate reading, speaking and 
writing vocabulary. ' 


6. Ability to use language which is grammatically correct. 


7%. Ability effectively to organize and express one’s thought 


1 This statement of objectives has grown up gradually through 
twelve years of codperative effort on the part of some fifteen hundred 
members of graduate classes in “The Curriculum” conducted by the 
writer at the University of Chicago. Recently the list was critically 
examined by some twelve hundred high-school teachers in Los 
Angeles, and again revised. It was then used as a basis for deter- 
mining the objectives of the several junior and senior high-school 
departments in the recent curriculum labors in that city. It is still, 
of course, but a tentative draft. It will require revision and re-revi- 
sion on the basis of accurate scientific analyses of detailed portions of 
the field as these accumulate. Or it may be entirely discarded in 
favor of a different plan, should a more serviceable one be offered. 


12 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


in written form: (a) Memoranda; (b) Letters; (c) Re- 
ports, news items or articles, systematic discussion of 
questions; (d) Giving directions; (e) Written addresses. 


8. Ability to write with proper legibility, ease, and speed. 
9. Ability to spell the words of one’s writing vocabulary. 


10. Ability to use good form, order, and arrangement in all 
of one’s written work: margins, spacing, alignment, par- 
agraphing, capitalization, punctuation, syllabication, 
abbreviation, ete. 


11. Ability to understand the oral expression of others. 


12. Ability to read the written or printed expression of oth- 
ers with proper ease, speed, and comprehension. 


13. Ability to use dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, hand- 
books, card catalogues, reader’s guides, indexes, and 
other library and reference helps in finding facts or ma- 
terials wanted. 


14. Ability to read and interpret facts expressed by com- 
monly used types of graphs, diagrams, and statistical 
tables. 


15. Ability to express facts by means of graphs, diagrams, 
and statistical tables. 


16. Ability to use maps with ease and understanding. 


17. Ability to read drawings, and to prepare simple draw- 
ings or designs. 
‘TI. Maintenance or Puysicat Erricency 
101. Ability to control one’s dietary in such ways as to make 
one’s food contribute in maximum measure to one’s 
physical well-being. 


102. Ability to keep the body mechanism properly oxy- 
genated. 


103. Ability to utilize muscular exercise as a lifelong means 
of maintaining a high level of physical vitality. 


104. Ability and disposition throughout life to engage with 


105. 


106. 


107. 


108. 


109. 


110. 


111. 


112. 


113. 


114. 
115. 


116. 


117. 


THE OBJECTIVES 13 


pleasure and profit in a varied repertory of games, 
sports, athletics, outdoor recreations, etc., such as 
swimming, skating, hiking, rowing, riding, tennis, golf, 
ball games of various kinds, running games, dancing, 
fishing, hunting, canoeing, motoring, camping, athletic 
events, etc. 


Ability and disposition to engage in a variety of unspe- 
cialized practical labors which contribute to one’s re- 
pertory of physical experiences. 


Ability to employ setting-up exercises for corrective or 
emergency purposes when nothing better is available. 


Ability to carry one’s self and to move and act with 
ease, grace, and precision. 


Ability to maintain postures conducive to the best 
physical functioning. 


Ability to make one’s various mental and emotional 
states and activities contribute in maximum degree to 
one’s physical functioning. 


Ability to make one’s sleep contribute in maximum 
measure to the development and maintenance of a high 
level of physical vitality. 


Ability to relax physically and mentally at proper times 
and in proper ways. 


Ability to protect one’s self from micro-organisms; and 
to deal with them and their products effectively in case 
of attack. 


Ability to take proper precautions against the spread of 
disease. 


Ability to protect from dust, smoke, and noxious gases. 


Ability rightly to control the factors involved in the 
maintenance of body temperatures. 


Ability to dress in ways that promote the physical well- 
being in maximum degree. 


Ability and disposition to maintain personal cleanliness. 


14 


118. 


119. 


134. 


135. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Ability to provide the most favorable conditions for the 
elimination from the tissues, organs, and body in gen- 
eral of all harmful or needless substances and agents. 


Ability to control one’s relations to sunlight so as to 
secure maximum benefits therefrom. 


. Ability to secure that variety or diversity of physical 


experiences necessary for maximum well-being. 


. Ability to draw up an individual program of work, 


play, rest, sleep, meals, etc., best suited to one’s physi- 
cal nature and capacity. 


. Ability to avoid preventable accidents. 
. Ability to deal with conditions produced by many kinds 


of common accidents. 


. Ability to care for the teeth. 

. Ability to care for the eyes. 

. Ability to care for nose, ear, and throat. 

. Ability to care for the skin. 

. Ability to keep the heart and blood vessels in normal 


working condition. 


. Ability to care for the hair and scalp. 
. Ability to care for the nails. 
. Ability to care properly for the feet. 


. Ability to control sex-functions in the interests of phys- 


ical and social well-being. 


. The ability to keep reasonably well-informed, in the de- 


gree to be expected of the layman, as to the discoveries 
of science in the fields of health conservation and pro- 
motion. 


Ability alone or in codperation with physicians and 
nurses to deal effectively with many kinds of disorders. 


Ability to care for the sick, — so far as laymen need this 
ability. 


136. 


137. 


138. 


139. 


201. 


202. 


203. 


' THE OBJECTIVES 15 


Ability to take the protective, precautionary, or reme- 
dial steps necessary to protect one’s self or family from 
common ailments. 


Ability wisely to utilize the services of physicians, 
nurses, dentists, and other specialists in health and 
physical upbuilding and maintenance. 


Ability within one’s occupational field to codperate ef- 
fectively in providing wholesome working conditions. 


Ability to perform one’s civic functions in codperating 
with and in the social support and control of public 
agencies engaged in promoting the general physical wel- 
fare. 


TI. Errictent CirizENSsHIP 


Ability to think, feel, act, and react as an efficient, intel- 
ligent, sympathetic, and loyal member of the large so- 
cial group — that group that is prior to differentiation 
and within which social differentiation occurs. Large- 
group or citizenship consciousness. Sense of member- 
ship in the total social group, rather than in some 
special class. Large-group local consciousness when 
dealing with local problems; large-group state con- 
sciousness when dealing with state responsibilities; 
large-group national consciousness when dealing with 
national matters; large-group world-consciousness when 
dealing with mankind’s responsibilities for world co- 
operation and management. 


Ability and disposition to view the specialized or func- 
tional groups and agencies, not as independent entities, 
but as service arms of the general social whole, without 
which they could not exist. 


The ability of the citizen to do his individual share in 
performing those social functions for which all citizens 
are equally responsible in the establishment, organiza- 
tion, maintenance, protection, oversight, and control 
of the specialized groups and agencies into which soci- 
ety is differentiated for effectiveness of action. The 
young citizen-in-training is to acquire those abilities 


16 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


which, when adulthood is reached, will enable him to 
perform the following things m connection with the 
several specialized social agencies: 


(a) Sharing fully in an informed and impelling public 
opinion, which looks to the general welfare in its 
control of each service agency. 

(b) Setting up in public opinion and maintaining the 
standards of result to be achieved by each service 
agency. 

(c) Seeing that each service agency aims at the stand- 
ards of results to be achieved. 

(d) Seeing that the service agency employs proced- 
ures which are effective in producing the de- 
sired results and which are economical in social 
costs. 


(e) Seeing that the material working conditions nec- 
essary for the most effective and economical 
procedures are supplied. 


(f) Seeing that each service agency is provided with 
personnel and organization of the kind required 
by the procedures to be employed; and properly 
rewarded. 


(g) Directly or indirectly selecting or approving the 
selection of the personnel of the agency. 


(h) Supplying the funds necessary for the efficient, 
and in all ways proper, conduct of the agency. 

(2) Currently or periodically examining, directly or 
through publicity reports, or both, mto the re- 
sults achieved by the agency, and the degree: of 
economy employed. 

(j) Where results achieved and degree of economy 
employed comply with standards of expectation, 
approving and properly rewarding the labors of 
those who have thus given good service. 

(4) Where results do not reach the standards of ex- 
pectation, or where there has been waste, finding 
the causes of the deficiency, and removing them 
as expeditiously as practicable. 


204. 


205. 


206. 


207. 


208. 


209. 


210. 


211. 
raz 


213. 


214. 


THE OBJECTIVES 17 


Ability to organize and use social facts effectively in ar- 
riving at conclusions. 


The ability to use general principles in analyzing and 
considering economic, political, and other social prob- 
lems. 


Ability to protect one’s self from social, economic, and 
political fallacies, illusions, misrepresentations, petty- 
mindedness, fragmentary-mindedness, sentimentality, 
selfish prejudices, and the like, through one’s continual 
reliance upon facts and principles. 


Ability to discern the character and the extent of one’s 
social obligations and duties in the amount and charac- 
ter of things done for one by other individuals, groups 
and agencies. 


Ability to discern one’s individual rights in the quantity 
of one’s services to the general group. Ability to read 
one’s rights as things earned. 


Ability to see social relations so clearly as to discern the 
duties of others, individuals and groups, within the social 
whole. 


Ability to see social relations so clearly as to discern the 
rights of others within the social whole. 


Disposition of the citizen’as consumer to avoid waste. 


A sufficient knowledge of the laws which one is expected 
to obey. 


An understanding and appreciation of the social-service 
labors and sacrifices which have brought cur institu- 
tions and social procedures to their present high levels 
of development. 


Ability to organize and express one’s ideas clearly and 
effectively in the discussion, formal or informal, of so- 
cial problems. 


. Ability wisely to choose a specialized occupation in 


which one can give good service to one’s self, to one’s 
family, and to society. 


18 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


TV. GENERAL SocrAL CoNnTACTS AND RELATIONSHIPS 


301. 


302. 


303. 


304. 


305. 


306. 


307. 
308. 
309. 


310. 


311. 


312. 


401. 


Ability and disposition to talk and act in those sympa- 
thetic, tactful, and human ways that are both most 
agreeable and also most effective in the conduct of one’s 
relations with one’s associates; and conversely, to avoid 
the many things disagreeable to others. 


Ability to comply automatically and relatively uncon- 
sciously with those ordinary social forms and conven- 
tions which facilitate human association. 


Ability to associate easily and naturally with individu- 
als of diverse ages, interests and specialties. 


Ability and disposition to make a wise choice of com- 
panions; and ability to develop and maintain friendship 
with people of high character and of diverse natures, ac- 
tivities, and interests. 


Sincerity, honesty, straightforwardness, truthfulness, 
fair-dealing, steadfastness, and dependableness in one’s 
dealings with others. 


Ability to discern the motives which actuate human be- 
havior. 


Ability to discern the unspoken expectations of others. 
Ability to sense and evaluate the reactions of others. 


Ability to gain the confidence of those with whom one 
comes in contact. 


Ability in dress and otherwise to maintain a proper per- 
sonal appearance. 


Ability to create and maintain a homelike and hospi- 
table atmosphere about the place in which one lives. 


Ability to converse agreeably and effectively upon a 
variety of topics and in a mood and manner suitable to 
the situation. 


V. Letsure OccuPpATIONS 
Ability, disposition, and habit of diversified observation 


402. 


403. 


404. 


405. 


406. 


407. 


408. 


409. 


410. 


411. 


412. 


413. 


THE OBJECTIVES 19 


of men, things, and affairs as an enjoyable and fruitful 
leisure occupation. 


Ability, disposition, and habit of abundant and diversi- 
fied reading as a means of enjoyable and fruitful indirect 
observation of men, things, and affairs; of vicarious par- 
ticipation in those affairs; and of entering into the 
thoughts and moods of others. 


Ability profitably to utilize pictures, and other visual 
modes of representation as means of indirect observation 
of men, things, and affairs. 


Ability to utilize the drama, spoken and silent, as a 
means of enjoyable and fruitful indirect observation of 
men, things, and affairs. 


Ability to utilize conversation as a profitable and enjoy- 
able means of participating in the thought of the world. 


Ability and disposition to give expression to one’s 
thoughts and experiences in proper ways and under 
proper circumstances. 


Ability in quiet thought to turn over in mind, evaluate, 
organize, and assimilate one’s experiences. 


Ability to participate in the more formal public discus- 
sion of matters of current interest as an enjoyable and 
fruitful spare-time occupation. 


Ability and disposition to utilize public addresses, lec- 
tures, etc., as means of widening one’s thought by en- 
tering into the thoughts and experiences of others. 


Ability, disposition, and habit of taking up occasionally 
the systematic study of some new thing; and of explor- 
ing untried fields of human experience. 


A disposition toward experimentation, exploration, dis- 
covery, and invention in those fields of one’s activities 
and interests which permit initiative. 


Ability profitably to utilize the participative and obser- 
vational opportunities of travel. 


Ability to utilize music for a healthful, abundant, and 
varied awakening of one’s emotional nature. 


20 


414. 


415. 
416. 


417. 


418. 


419. 


420. 


421. 


422. 


501. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Ability to utilize the products of the visual arts as 
sources of enjoyable and profitable esthetic experiences. 


Amateur ability in fields of the fine arts. 


Ability to participate in desirable activities of social 
clubs. 


Ability to entertain one’s friends, and to respond to en- 
tertainment by one’s friends. 


Ability to carry on in proper ways one’s family and gen- 
eral social correspondence. 


Ability and disposition to engage with pleasure and pro- 
fit in a sufficient and varied repertory of games, sports, 
athletics, and outdoor recreations, such as swimming, 
skating, hiking, rowing, riding, tennis, golf, ball games 
of various kinds, running games, dancing, fishing, hunt- 
ing, canoeing, motoring, camping, athletic events and 
other things physically and socially equivalent. 


Ability and disposition to utilize outdoor life in the 
midst of natural surroundings as recreation for mind 
and body. 


Ability and disposition to participate in a variety of un- 
specialized practical activities as enjoyable and fruitful 
spare-time occupations. 


Ability to draw up for one’s self and hold to a balanced 
program of desirable leisure occupations. 


VI. GENERAL MENTAL EFFICIENCY 


A proportioned and emotionalized intellectual appre- 
hension, such as one’s natural capacities will permit, of 
the realities which make up the world of man’s life: 
(a) Man; human nature; diversities of human nature. 
(b) Man’s activities and affairs in their diverse fields 
and forms. 
(c) Man’s institutions. 
(d) The territorial or regional groups that make up 
the local community, the state, the nation, the 
world. Their situations and affairs. 


THE OBJECTIVES 21 


(e) The specialized or functional groups — eco- 
nomic, political, religious, and the lke — to- 
gether with their special situations, activities, 
duties, rights, and relationships. 

(f) Man’s geographical habitat. 

(g) The development of man and of his nature, habi- 
tat, institutions, manners and customs, special- 
ized groupings, etc., as revealed in biology and 
history. 

(h) The world of plant life. 

(t) The world of animal life. 

(7) The world of chemical phenomena. 

(k) The world of physical phenomena. 

(l) The geological world. 

(m) The astronomical world. 
(n) The world of number, quantity, magnitude. 

(0) The world of sound and music. 

(p) The world of language and literature. 

(q) The world of form, color, visual art. 

(r) Man’s inventions and creations. 

(s) The world in composite forms: woods, hills, 
streams, lakes, oceans, farms, cities, and the like. 

(t) The world of myth, legend, folklore, fairy tale — 


realities of a sort even though they are but cre- 
ated in man’s imagination. 


In each field: awakened interests; tendencies to 


attention; appreciations; normal emotional re- 
actions. 


502. Ability effectively to perform the mental activities in- 
volved in the proper exercise of the many specific func- 
tions which one should perform. Some of the mental 


states and activities needed for any specific ability are 
as follows: 


(1-a) An interest in the things involved in the ex- 
ercise of the specific ability: the materials, 


forces, processes, relations, experiences, and 
results. 


22 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(2-a) Automatic watchfulness or attention to the 
things involved. 

(3-a) Right valuations, attitudes, and appreciations of 
things involved. 

(4-a) Desire for the results which come from an exer- 
cise of the ability. 

(5-a) Delight in the experiences involved in the exer- 
cise of the ability. 

(6-a) Desire for the ability for the sake of the experi- 
ences, the results, or both. 

(7-a) Normal and healthy emotional responses to the 
things, situations, and experiences involved in 
the exercise of the ability. 

(8-a) The specific habits and skills which are neces- 
sary for easy and effective performance of the 
activities. 

(9-a) Self-direction and_ self-control in performing 
specific activities. 

(10-a) Habits of planning action prior to execution. 

(1l-a) Knowledge of the things involved. Command 
over the science required in the efficient exer- 
cise of the ability — both the general or back- 
ground science and the specific applied science. 

(12-a) Interest in and right attitudes toward the sci- 
ence which should always guide planning and 
execution. 

(13-a) Disposition to follow the dictates of science 
both in planning and in execution. 

(14—a) Confidence in the guidance of science. Auto- 
matic habit of turning to science when seeking 
guidance. 

(15-a) Ability to analyze a situation into its several 
elements or factors and to see them in propor- 
tion and relation. 

(16-a) Power to foresee developments and results. 

(17-a) Resourcefulness in meeting unexpected situa- 
tions. Ability to analyze perplexing situations 


into their elements by way of resolving the 
ditficulties. 


THE OBJECTIVES 23 


(18-a) Habit of keeping abreast of developments. 
Openness of mind toward new developments, 
discoveries, or inventions. 


(19-a) Ability to collect, organize, and interpret facts 
needed in the exercise of each ability; and to 
arrive at conclusions justified by the evidence. 


(20-a) Knowledge of, and habit of using, methods 
which are most economical in time, labor, and 
cost. 


(21-a) Habit of accuracy in thought and execution. 
(22-a) Ability to do one’s thinking in quantitative 
terms where this is necessary for accuracy. 


Skill in handling the quantitative or mathema- 
tical matters involved. 


(23-a) A valuation and habit of system and order in 
dealing with the several factors. 


(24—a) A sense of the reality or substantiality of the 
things, forces, processes, and relations that are 
involved. 


(25-a) Ability to use language efficiently as the vehi- 
cle of one’s thought. 


(26-a) Habit of thinking primarily in terms of the reali- 
ties concerned — with the verbal element prop- 
erly subordinated. 


(27-a) Sense of responsibility for doing adequately, 
promptly, and cheerfully everything that needs 
to be done. 


(28-a) Valuation of high standards of achievement. 
Habits of holding to high standards. Disposi- 
tion always to do one’s best. 

(29-a) Ability to self-judge the character of one’s per- 
formance, and of the results, in terms of appro- 
priate principles and standards. 

(30-a) An active dislike of things faulty when meas- 
ured by proper standards. 

(31-a) Ability to recognize defects, errors, or short- 
comings in conditions, processes, or results. 


24 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(32-a) Knowledge of the kinds of errors against which 
one should be on guard. 

(33-a) Knowledge of the harmful effects of mistakes. 

(34-a) An effective desire to avoid errors or short- 
comings. 

(35-a) Habit of watchfulness against errors or short- 
comings. 

(36-a) Disposition to permit no exceptions to right 
procedure. 

(37-a) Habit of correcting errors as soon as discovered. 

(38-a) An awakened conscience, so to speak, relative 
to rightness and wrongness in the matters in- 
volved in the exercise of each ability. 

(39-a) An abiding and impelling confidence in the 
worth of one’s labors. 

(40-a) Disposition to be active. 

(41-a) A disposition to be as vigorous and prompt as 
the nature of the situation makes desirable. 


(42-a) Willingness to exert one’s self as fully as needful, 
to take trouble, to endure pain, to sacrifice the 
immediate for the remote, the lower for the 
higher, as far as the situation demands these 
things. 

(43-a) Tenacity of purpose, persistence, industry, and 
courage in grappling with obstacles and in 
achieving the desired results. 

(44-a) Confidence in one’s ability to perform the 
activities. 

(45-a) Sense of dissatisfaction or disappointment 
when one fails. 

(46-a) Knowledge of and respect for the expectations 
and standards of cultivated right-minded per- 
sons. A proper degree of sensitiveness to the 
expectations of such persons, and tendencies to 
react accordingly. 

(47-a) The ability, in tasks requiring group effort, to 
codperate fully with one’s associates. 

(48-a) Such knowledge of one’s abilities in relation to 


503. 


504. 


505. 


506. 


507. 


508. 
_ sible specialized occupations; and for the several levels 


509. 


601. 


THE OBJECTIVES 25 


the tasks that one can know whether he is jus- 
tified in doing things himself or in getting them 
done by those who are more specialized and 
more skilled than one’s self. 

(49-a) The ability to keep one’s emotional serenity, in 
the face of circumstances however trying. 


Ability and disposition throughout life, according to 
one’s native capacity, to engage with pleasure and 
profit in a varied repertory of intellectual, social, and ses- 
thetic activities of play type for the sake of maintenance 
of one’s mental imtegrity and virility. (See Leisure 
Occupations.) 


Disposition and habit of utilizing one’s unspecialized 
work activites as a means of mental maintenance. (See 
Unspecialized Practical Activities.) 


Disposition and habit of utilizing one’s civic activities 
as opportunities and means of maintaining one’s gen- 
eral mental powers. 


Ability to lay out for one’s self and hold to a program of 
experiences which, considering all circumstances and 
conditions, promises maximum benefits in the develop- 
ment and maintenance of one’s mental powers. 


Ability to see and judge one’s own abilities, capacities, 
aptitudes, strengths, weaknesses, shortcomings, etc. 


Ability to judge one’s degree of fitness for the many pos- 


of proficiency in each. 


Ability to take the protective, precautionary, or reme- 
dial steps necessary to protect one’s self or family from 
the various causes of needless mental mefliciency or dis- 
ability. 


VII. Reuictous ATTITUDES AND ACTIVITIES 


A sense of the brotherhood of man. A full sense of 
membership in the large or total social group. Large- 
group consciousness. A sense of human interdepend- 
ency, of community of nature, of origin, of vicissitudes, 


26 


602. 


603. 


604. 


605. 


606. 


607. 


701. 


702. 


703. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


and of destiny. Tendencies to action and reaction 
which are inherent in the large-group consciousness, 


Ability to see one’s environment, the near and the far, 
the personal and the impersonal, sub specie eternitatis, 
as a vast and restless sea of forces and phenomena, 
infinite in extent, subtlety, and complexity. Ability to 
see and realize one’s inter-relatedness with and within 
this boundless environment. (The vision provided by 
science — physical, biological, psychological, social.) 


Ability to catch for one’s self such glimpses as are per- 
mitted to finite vision of the Being which actuates the 
universe as revealed in natural manifestations, in living 
creatures, in mankind, in man’s highest examples, in 
the record of man’s thought and action and aspiration 
as presented in history, literature, art, science, philoso- 
phy, and in man’s religious literatures. 


Ability to participate as fully and abundantly as one’s 
original nature will permit in religious and philosophic 
thought of the type characteristic of man at his best 
and highest. 


Ability, habit, and disposition to follow the leadership 
of the world’s Men of Vision. 


An attitude and desire of obedience to the immutable 
and eternal laws which appear to exist in the nature of 
things. Confidence in the beneficence of these laws. 


A sense of personal security which springs from one’s 
confidence in the beneficence of the general order of 
things. 


VIII. PaArentau RESPONSIBILITIES 


The physical qualities necessary for parenthood of de- 
sirable type. (Duplicate.) 


The mental, moral, and social qualities necessary for 
parenthood of proper character. (Duplicate.) 


Ability to supply the material needs of one’s children. 
(Duplicate.) | 


704. 


705. 


706. 


707. 


708, 


709. 


a0. 


711. 


712. 


713. 


714. 


THE OBJECTIVES a 


Ability to read, as fully as conditions permit, the po- 
tential characteristics and abilities of one’s children. 


Ability to particularize the abilities and personal char- 
acteristics which should be aimed at in the upbringing 
of one’s children. 


Ability to do one’s share in codperatively getting the 
particularized objectives of the training of their chil- 
dren determined by specialized agencies; particularly 
the schools. 


Ability to judge, and in some part to initiate, the choice 
of the experiences which their children should have 
in order to attain the characteristics and abilities 
proper for them. 


Ability to do one’s share in getting specialized agencies 
to determine the child-experiences best for attaining 
the goals of achievement. 


Ability to judge, and in some part independently to 
choose, the material opportunities and conditions to be 
provided the children for their experiences. 


Ability to provide the material conditions of the desir- 
able child-experiences through unspecialized labors so 
far as it is desirable to provide them in this way. 


Ability to do one’s share in codperatively getting the 
material conditions of the desirable child-experiences 
effectively provided by specialized agencies; particu- 
larly, the schools. 


Ability to evaluate personal, social, and moral influences 
of different kinds as to their efficacy in the right up- 
bringing of children. 


Ability to provide the proper parental share of the per- 
sonal, social, and moral influences necessary to the 
right upbringing of children. 


Ability to control the children’s contacts with the gen- 
eral life of the community, juvenile and adult, in the in- 
terests of the children’s right upbringing. 


716. 


ong 


718. 


801. 


802. 


803. 


804. 


805. 


806. 
807. 


808. 
809. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


. Ability to do one’s share in coéperatively getting a 


proper portion of the personal and social factors of their 
children’s experiences provided by specialized agencies; 
particularly the schools. 


Ability to judge of their degree of success in carrying 
their children’s development forward toward the prede- 
termined goals of achievement. 


Ability to judge the degree of success of specialized 
agencies, particularly the schools, in assisting their 
children to achieve the goals of their upbringing. 


Ability to do one’s individual share in the codperative 
support and control of specialized agencies to which 
child-training functions are delegated. (Duplicate: 


Civic.) 


IX. UNSPECIALIZED PracticaL ACTIVITIES 


Ability to use all common kinds of measuring devices: 
measures of lengths, area, volume, capacity, weight, 
time, value, temperature, specific gravity, etc. 


Ability to sharpen, adjust, clean, lubricate, replace 
worn or broken parts, and otherwise keep household 
and garden tools and appliances in good order and good 
working condition. 


Ability to make repairs, adjustments and additions to 
the house and its equipment. 


Ability to make repairs, adjustments, and sometimes to 
construct household furniture or other equipment. 


Ability to participate intelligently in the original plan- 
ning of one’s home. 


Ability to operate household equipment. 


Ability to keep the house, premises, and equipment 
clean and sanitary. 


Ability to keep the house in good order. 


Ability to care for and operate the electrical system and 


THE OBJECTIVES 29 


appliances in one’s home; and to make simple repairs, 
adjustments, or replacements. 


810. Ability to protect the home from fire. 


811. Ability to perform the operations involved in the care of 
the premises and garden. 


812. Ability to care for pets or other live animals. 


813. Ability to perform the various activities involved in 
traveling and outdoor life. 


814. Ability wisely to select garments. 


815. Ability to design, select the materials, make, mend and 
alter clothing. 


816. Ability to care for one’s clothing. 


817. Ability to perform the laundry and other cleaning activ- 
ities of the home. 


818. Ability to perform the various activities involved in pro- 
viding the family with food. 


819. Ability to perform the several activities involved in a 
proper care of the person. 


820. An amateur ability to do productive, creative, or inter- 
pretative work in the field of the fine arts. (Semi-spe- 
cialized.) 


821.- Ability to perform the simple business operations in- 
volved in the conduct of personal and family affairs. 


X. OccuPpATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


We cannot here present a list of the occupational abilities. 
There are hundreds, even thousands, of specialized occupa- 
tions and for each a separate list of abilities must be formu- 
lated. For discovering these, each occupation must be ana- 
lyzed separately into its activities. 

We place the general topic here for the sake of ae 
ness. For any individual, the total list of his educational ob- 
jectives will be those of the foregoing nine lists plus those of 
the specific occupation which he intends to enter. The nine 
fields constitute his general training; this last, his specialized 
training. 


30 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


OBJECTIVES OF SCHOOLS OF DIFFERENT LEVELS 


So far as valid, leaving aside the vocational, the fore- 
going are the objectives of general education in schools 
of all levels: pre-primary, primary, elementary, junior 
high school, senior high school, and junior college. All 
of these schools are training for the same adult life. All 
are aiming at the same ultimate goals. Some are 
nearer the beginnings of man’s educational journey, 
some are nearer its consummation. All the parts, 
however, make up one journey. It should be direct, 
consistent, straight, unconfused. 


Tue INGREDIENTS OF ANY SpEciFIC ABILITY 


What is an ability? In most or all cases an ability 
appears to be a complex thing, composed of many in- 
eredients. Take, for example, the ability to use 
language which is grammaticaily correct. This ability 
involves certain habits, skills, valuations, attitudes, 
desires, knowledge, sensitiveness to the expectations 
and criticisms of others, watchfulness over one’s lan- 
guage, ability to self-judge, dislike for grammatically 
incorrect language, a feeling for right and wrong forms, 
an interest in language matters, and doubtless many 
others, — all referring specifically to one’s use of 
language. 

No one of these factors alone is sufficient to produce 
correct English. ‘The ability to use correct English is 
operative only when there is a simultaneous working of 
all of them. To develop the ability involves the 
development of each and all of the specific factors. 


THE OBJECTIVES 31 


Space does not permit us here to take one by one 
each of the several score specific abilities presented 
above, and to enumerate the elements which compose 
it. There is enough similarity, however, in the types of 
ingredients of the several abilities to permit the use of a 
series of types of component factors. Such a series we 
have presented above under item 502. It is numbered 
in a special way, l—-a to 49-a, to facilitate its being used 
for the special purpose here indicated. If one will take 
that list in connection with any one of the specific 
abilities and reword the list in terms of that ability, he 
will have a statement of its component elements. 

Since the abilities are of diverse character and value, 
and the list of component type-elements general 
enough in statement to cover all of them, naturally the 
educationist must use ordinary judgment in rewording 
the statements according to the character and value of 
the several abilities. A merely mechanical use of the 
device in so complex a field merely reduces the matter 
to an absurdity. The rewording must be carefully 
fitted to the realities. 


CHAPTER III 
SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TC THE OBJECTIVES 


Tue first step in curriculum-making is to decide what 
specific educational results are to be produced. 

The results to be produced should be stated in human 
terms. Most of them are human abilities of one kind 
or another. Operating within these as factors are 
personal qualities and characteristics of many kinds. 

The objectives should be stated in definite terms. 
When so stated, it is possible for educationists to know 
with certainty at what they are aiming. It is also 
possible for parents and students to understand. 

The objectives should be stated, so far as their nature 
will permit, in the everyday language of common sense. 
They should be easily intelligible to everybody con- 
cerned, especially to parents and pupils. 

General unanalyzed objectives are to be avoided. 
For the ten major divisions of human action, it would 
be possible to state ten corresponding abilities. These 
would be so general as to be practically useless for 
curriculum-making. ‘Ability to care for one’s health,” 
for example, is too general to be useful. It must be re- 
duced to particularity: ability to manage the ventila- 
tion of one’s sleeping-room, ability to protect one’s 
self against micro-organisms, ee to care for the 
teeth, and so on. 

Objectives that are only vague higb-sounding hopes 


SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO OBJECTIVES 33 


and aspirations are to be avoided. Examples are: 
“Character building,” the “harmonious development 
of the individual,” “social efficiency,” “general 
culture,”’ and the like. 


a> 66 


discipline,”’ “‘self-realization, 
All of these are valid enough; but too cloud-like for 
guiding practical procedure. They belong to the 
visionary adolescence of our profession, not to its 
sober and somewhat disillusioned maturity. 

Every school system should formulate its own state- 
ment of its objectives. If it seems desirable, the fore- 
going lists can be used as starting points. Eliminate 
what is not approved. Modify what is partially 
approved. Include what has been omitted. 

In certain portions of the field careful, sometimes 
scientific, activity-analyses have been made. Most of 
these are in fields of spelling, language and grammar, 
arithmetic, history, geography, and vocations. Many 
of these can, and should, be used for suggestion.! 
Except for a few such analyses, however, they are too 
incomplete and tentative to be of service for actual 
guidance. In large measure they are nothing more 
than promising experiments in the technique of 
activity-analysis. But even so, they provide numerous 
practical suggestions, and should be used for all that 
they are worth. 

It is unfortunate that so little scientific analysis has 
yet been possible in most fields of human action. No- 
body knows with definiteness, for example, what 


1 The curriculum-maker can find a summary of them, and refer- 
ences to the originals, in Charters’s Curriculum Construction. 


34 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


specific things the good citizen should do. Little 
scientific analysis of civic activities has yet been made. 
In matters of personal hygiene, our knowledge is some- 
what more complete; but there are no authoritative 
analyses of community health activities which can be 
accepted for guidance in listing objectives of health 
education. Recreational analyses have not been made. 
We do not know accurately what specific activities 
parents should perform in the upbringing of children; 
or what activities should make up the religious life; or 
the field of unspecialized practical arts. 

While we recognize the desirability of using scientific 
method, we must admit that as yet we lack a technique 
which is adequate for the satisfactory analysis of any 
one of the ten fields; and that trained investigators are 
not yet available for doing the work. 

Until such time as the objectives can be scientifically 
established, practical workers will employ less rigorous 
methods in formulating their working objectives. Asa 
matter of fact, innumerable things are proved by 
practical experience. Take, for example, the ability 
to read. No scientific study has been made which 
proves that this is a needed human ability. But 
practical experience has proved it with finality. And 
what is thus proved takes its place as scientific verity. 
One does not employ the refined methods of research to 
demonstrate the obvious. 

In the same way, practical experience has demon- 
strated the need of other human abilities and charac- 
teristics. in the foregoing chapter, we have attempted 


SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO OBJECTIVES 35 


only to assemble results of practical experience on the 
basis of the testimony of some twenty-seven hundred 
mature and cultivated individuals. 

We should use the exact methods of science to dis- 
cover what is proved by practical experience where 
there is any doubt of the matter; also to be sure that vital 
matters are not omitted by oversight; and finally to 
introduce the quantitative element when standards of 
achievement are to be definite. 

Some abilities are so simple and natural that they 
can be taken care of through the general processes of 
living: ability to walk, to run, to talk, to listen to 
others, to operate the electric lights, and the like. The 
unfoldment of these abilities is a portion of one’s 
total education, but is not an objective of one’s school 
education. All education should proceed upon the 
assumption that nothing should be done by the schools 
that can be sufficiently well accomplished through the 
normal processes of living. Only those abilities which 
are so complex that they are not sufficiently developed 
through the normal processes of living will be included 
among the objectives of systematic education. 

In locating the objectives that require special em- 
phases, especially in general education, the diagnos- 
tic method of discovering the personal and social 
shortcomings to be overcome is most fruitful. Let 
one discover the mistakes commonly made in Eng- 
lish expression, and these will point to the aspects of 
the English training that are to be specially empha- 
sized. Find health errors that are common, and one 


36 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


can discover the health abilities that will prevent these 
errors. Locate civic deficiencies in the adult world, 
and they point to the attitudes, powers of judgment, 
habits, and other civic matters to be emphasized. The 
recreational shortcomings of our population show the 
kinds of preventive and protective training needed. 
The principle extends to all aspects of education. 
Errors do not show what one ought to do; but they 
show where emphases are to be placed in bringing one 
to do the things which activity-analyses show that he 
ought to do. 

Certain attitudes, characteristics, and abilities can- 
not be made the objectives of public education be- 
cause the community is too much divided. This is 
notably true of the objectives of religious education. 
It is equally true of some of the objectives of civic and 
economic education. And we find also divisions of 
community sentiment in training for health, recre- 
ations, parenthood, vocation — in fact, in about all 
fields of practical action. It is clear that a long period 
of community discussion and education will be nec- 
essary before there can be developed sufficient com- 
munity support for any complete or fully rounded 
program of education. 

Certain abilities are precluded by practical con- 
ditions. The ability to swim, for example, cannot be 
an objective where the schools lack swimming facili- 
ties. The ability to participate in an orchestra is 
precluded where the school cannot secure instruments 
or teacher, and where there are not enough students 


SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO OBJECTIVES 37 


to warrant it. The ability to write shorthand cannot 
be an objective in a very small school which cannot 
afford the necessary special teacher. The objectives 
actually set up by any school or system must largely 
be determined by such practical considerations. 

The comprehensive working list of abilities should 
be put into printed form. This makes them definite. 
It prevents their becoming confused and changed 
through processes of discussion. It enables all con- 
cerned to have the same things before them and the 
same things in mind at once. It enables one to see 
the entire range of abilities as he considers any one of 
them or any group of them. It assists in seeing each 
in relation to all. It prevents losing sight of any of 
them. It assists in providing a broad common ground 
of understanding for all concerned. 

The printed working list of abilities should be dis- 
tributed to all who bear responsibility for education. 
These are, in the first instance, the parents and lay 
community in general. These bear the primary re- 
sponsibility for education. ‘The responsibility rests in 
secondary or derived fashion upon the professional 
organization. The list of abilities should be considered 
by all who bear responsibility. 

The educational profession should lead in formulat- 
ing this comprehensive list of abilities. It has been 
commissioned to develop them in human beings. It 
ought therefore to have specialized skill in seeing them 
within individuals and as they operate in human 
society. 


38 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


While educationists will, of course, lead, it is probable 
that the general community should assist in determin- 
ing the several abilities which are to be developed 
within the younger generation. Itis they who make up 
the world of practical affairs and who perform the sev- 
eral activities. They are acquainted with the abilities 
at first-hand. Let us admit that their knowledge is often 
superficial and fragmentary and that it relates to types 
of performance which are often crude and primitive. 
In spite of these things, as a matter of fact, it is those 
who are specially proficient in the practical affairs of 
the world who can best reveal to our profession what 
the abilities are which ought to be generally developed. 
The actual abilities at their best show us what they 
ought to be. And these things at their best are to 
be found here and there within the community life. 
Those who possess the abilities are specially competent 
to pass judgment upon the formulations of the pro- 
fessional analysts; and to take the lead in bringing the 
entire community to an appreciation of the objectives. 

Specialized groups within the community should be 
held responsible for specially expert services in locating 
the abilities involved in those portions of the field with 
which they have to do. This is especially clear in 
locating the vocational abilities. Salesmen and 
supervisors of salesmen are specially competent in 
pointing out the abilities which are needed by salesmen. 
Printers are specially competent to point out the 
abilities which are needed by successful printers. 

The principle applies also outside of the vocational 


SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO OBJECTIVES 39 


field. Physicians and nurses possess specialized ability 
to assist in formulating the objectives of health edu- 
eation. Civic and social workers ought to be able to 
provide specialized assistance in formulating civic ob- 
jectives. Religious workers ought to be able to advise 
with reference to desirable religious attitudes, habits, 
characteristics, and abilities. Specialists in the field of 
recreational agencies should advise relative to desirable 
abilities in these fields. The educational profession 
should utilize experience wherever it can be found. 

In this connection of course one will remember that 
the layman often tends to be dogmatic, dictatorial, and 
intolerant, especially when he feels himself impelled 
by religious, patriotic, vocational, political, or other 
crystallized social sanctions. ‘These are the usual 
symptoms of social ignorance and unfamiliarity with 
civic responsibilities and procedures. Enlightenment, 
through civic functioning under good leadership, is the 
cure. 

Out of considerations by all concerned, decision 
should be reached relative to the abilities which are to 
be left to the general processes of living; those which 
are to be left to the systematic care of homes, churches, 
recreational and other agencies; and the ones which are 
to be made the responsibilities of the schools. 

The comprehensive list of abilities should be deter- 
mined wholly without reference to subjects or depart- 
ments. It should present simply the characteristics 
and abilities needed by men and women. At a later 
stage, subjects will be considered. But at this stage, 


40 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


the curriculum-maker should remain oblivious to 
them. Attention should be fixed on man, his affairs, 
his powers. 

This does not mean that the services of the special- 
ized educational departments are not to be employed. 
As a matter of fact, the services of every type of 
specialist should be fully utilized. The art department 
in the schools, for example, will be able to discern 
certain aspects of need on the part of the general adult 
community which cannot be so clearly discerned by 
any other group. The department of physical training 
ought to be specially proficient in discerning the phys- 
ical needs of the population; the department of home 
economics, the needs of housewives; the social studies 
department, the civic needs of the citizen. Ultimate 
decision, however, relative to any proposed objective 
is not to be made by any special department; but by 
those who bear the general educational responsibility. 

The abilities are to be determined on the basis of 
human needs without reference to the place or time of 
doing the work of developing them. 

Each school system should formulate its own ob- 
jectives. It is probable that before long we shall 
have a generally acceptable professional statement 
of specific educational objectives. When that time 
comes, the local labors can be greatly lightened. To 
date, however, no city has gone far enough to pro- 
vide a sufficient model for any other. For the sake of 
sound professional progress, it is good that the work be 
done independently and simultaneously in many cities 


SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO OBJECTIVES 41 


and states. Each then serves as a check upon the 
others. And what is for the present more important, 
each can best educate itself for the work by doing the 
work. In any revised educational program, every 
worker should be thoroughly familiar with it. This 
familiarity is to be acquired chiefly through partici- 
pating in the labors of formulating the new program. 
Understanding is not a thing which can be imposed. 
It grows up out of practical experiences. 

Some of the abilities that will be set down in the 
general comprehensive list must be of a type which are 
possible and practicable for only a part of the popula- 
tion. Whether we like the matter or not, we must rec- 
ognize the plain fact that individuals differ in their 
natural capacities. Mentally some are of large capac- 
ity, others medium, others small. No amount of edu- 
cational labor will develop large ability on the part of 
those possessing low natural capacity. For these we 
shall be compelled to determine a limited set of abil- 
ities and we shall have to aim at only a moderate, or 
even low, standard of achievement in those abilities. 

On the other hand, those of large potential capacity 
should have their powers fully unfolded. They should 
be expected to develop types of ability that are not ap- 
propriate to their weaker brethren; and they should at- 
tain higher levels of proficiency where they are aiming 
at the same general types. 

The ability to read a foreign language, for example, 
is appropriate for those of considerable natural ability. 
It is not a needed nor a desirable ability for every mem- 


42 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


ber of our population. The ability to do public speak- 
ing is for some but not for all. A broad vision over 
human affairs, historical and sociological, is possible for 
those of large intellectual caliber. The same type of 
vision and understanding is unfortunately impossible 
for those of low intellectual endowment. 

The comprehensive list of abilities and characteris- 
tics should be that which is appropriate to individuals 
of large natural capacity. It can then be cut down to 
meet the needs of those of lesser capacity. 

The essentials of the education of the bright tran- 

scend the essentials of that of average pupils. The es- 
sentials required by the latter go beyond those of the 
dull. “Minimum essentials”? which equally represent 
the irreducible needs of all isa myth. A different set 
of minimum essentials needs to be formulated for each 
ability class. 
- 'The abilities that are generally needed by men and 
women, without regard to their specialized occupa- 
tions, are the objectives of general education. Except 
as the objectives must differ according to natural ca- 
pacity and social situation, they should be much the 
same for everybody. The abilities enumerated in the 
first nine lists of the foregoing chapter are the objec- 
tives of general education. 

The specialized abilities involved in any calling are 
the objectives of occupational education for that calling. 
To prevent confusion, the objectives of vocational edu- 
cation should be drawn up strictly with a view to the vo- 
cations, and in no degree for general training purposes. 


SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO OBJECTIVES 43 


The ultimate objectives, in non-quantitative form, as 
in Chapter II, are first to be located. After this is done, 
it is possible to decide how far pupils should go each 
year in attaining the several goals, and thus to deter- 
mine the grade-objectives or progress-objectives. It is 
even possible at present in some cases to make grade 
standards quantitative. Except as they can be made 
quantitative, however, it is practically impossible to 
fix progress objectives. About all that can be done in 
any case is to set up the ultimate objective as the goal 
of work of all the grades; to lay out the long sequence 
of pupil activities and experiences for all the grades 
from the time the training is begun until the goal is 
reached; and to cover on each grade level that portion 
which is appropriate to the pupil’s level of maturity. 

The comprehensive list of objectives approved for 
the schools should include definite statements of all 
powers, characteristics, and abilities that are to be 
aimed at. ‘There are then no others sanctioned. It 
will then include the rightful objectives of each and all 
special subjects and departments. Let each depart- 
ment then find the ones which are its responsibility. 
In the chapters in this volume which deal with the 
special subjects, the plan recommended is used. The 
special subject objectives are taken from our illus- 
trative comprehensive list, and bear the same numbers. 


CHAPTER IV 
PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 


EpucaTIon is the process of growing up in the right 
way. 

The objectives are the goals of growth. The pupil’s 
activities and experiences are the steps which make 
up his journey toward those goals. The activities and 
experiences are the curriculum. 

The curriculum-maker will take the objectives, 
sometimes singly and sometimes in groups, and dis- 
cover what the pupils should do and experience by 
way of achieving the desired results. 

This task must be approached with circumspection. 
There are a number of obstacles to be avoided. One of 
these is the common conception that education is 
mostly a matter of textbook memorizing followed by 
lesson-hearing. It is not usually regarded as primarily 
a matter of growing up in such a way that one develops 
the specific abilities and qualities which are to function 
throughout life. 

As a corrective, the curriculum-maker will always 
keep the functional objectives before him. If he has 
himself discovered them in his own social analyses, and 
if he has stated them in common-sense terms, then he 
can always see education as the process of developing 
human powers and qualities in human beings; and that 
anything else is irrelevant. And he can see that there 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 465 


is no other way to produce them but through the 
processes of growth. 

Another obstacle is our dominant educational meth- 
odology. This tells us what a pupil should do in order 
to master subjects. It has not greatly concerned itself 
with what he should do and experience by way of de- 
veloping right attitudes toward life and affairs, or 
ability to perform the citizen’s inspectorial function, or 
lifelong recreational habits, sense of social justice, good 
health habits, or the thousand and one human things 
which make up man’s everyday life. The familiar 
task of mastering abstract subjects out of relation to 
man’s life is a quite different matter. 

The best corrective for this archaic methodology is 
a generous application of common sense to the proc- 
esses of education. Let one view the objectives 
clearly as human qualities and abilities. One can 
then usually see a common-sense road to the attain- 
ment of each. His educational science can be nothing 
more than a refinement of this common sense. Nat- 
urally one will assemble and use all available educa- 
tional science. It is unfortunate that there is not more 
of it. 

Let us begin with this question: What are the gen- 
eral types of activity and experience dictated both by 
common sense and educational science, which will 
enable the pupil to achieve his several goals? Here are 
some of them: 

1. Observation. From early infancy onward, with- 
out thought of learning, man normally observes the 


46 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


world round about him. As he moves along the 
streets, drives through the country, sits at a car win- 
dow, visits a factory, codperates with his fellows, and 
wherever else, he is ever watchful, automatically 
watchful without effort or intention, of persons, ac- 
tions, manners and customs, the things and phenomena 
of nature, the work of man’s hands, and whatever else 
makes up his surroundings. Child or man, savage or 
civilized, this continuous observation is one of man’s 
normal reactions to the presence of environment. 

This observation is not merely visual. He also 
listens without conscious effort to the sounds, particu- 
larly the language, which make up his auditory en- 
vironment. He explores things with his hands. He 
tests things with sense of taste or smell. He lifts them, 
feels them, turns them over and examines them. It is 
the habit of man at all stages of maturity, all ages, all 
lands, and all levels of culture. 

It is the nature of man thus to observe. He does 
not do it for the sake of placing information in storage. 
It is only a mode of living. To omit it is in part not to 
live. To do it consciously for the sake of placing in- 
formation in storage is not to do it normally. 

The curriculum-maker will find the kinds of obser- 
vations which individuals ought to make by way of 
arriving at the goals of their education, and which at 
the same time are possible within the practical circum- 
stances. Some of these will be in school laboratories, 
shops, gardens, and clinics. Most will be outside of 
the school plant, distributed through the community: 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 47 


homes, streets, shops, stores, factories, farms, woods, 
and the thousand portions of one’s environment. They 
cannot be taken to the schools. To observe them one 
must gotothem. It is folly to try to develop an under- 
standing of the world as it is without an abundant and 
direct observation of the world as it is and where it is. 

Most of one’s observations cannot be normal if made 
class-fashion with a crowd. The excess sociality in- 
duced by such a situation intensifies the pupils’ obser- 
vations of each other and correspondingly diminishes 
their observations of things outside the class crowd. 

Neither can the observation be normal if the edu- 
cational purposes be too conscious. Fundamental 
experiences appear usually to be best for education 
when the pupil is not greatly conscious of their edu- 
cational purposes. ' They appear to be best when he is 
simply living, and nothing more. When the pupil’s 
education becomes self-directed, naturally he must be- 
come conscious in some degree of the purposes. But 
these should not get too much in the foreground of his 
consciousness. 

The technique of employing normal observational 
experiences outside of certain laboratory and _ field 
work is much undeveloped. The curriculum-maker 
will search out the ways and means of greatly aug- 
menting it in amount and of making it thoroughly 
effective. 

There is one type of observation which is specially 
important and which therefore should be specially 
singled out, namely: the sympathetic observation of 


48 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


desirable types of behavior on the part of others. Edu- 
cation in the main is to develop powers to do desirable 
things in desirable ways. Let one therefore see others 
doing these desirable things in the desirable ways. 
Let him look uponthem favorably and sympathetically. 
He will then be impelled to do the same kinds of things 
in the same kinds of ways. As he does them, his 
powers are molded into corresponding forms. The 
mind grows according to its patterns. The curricu- 
lum-maker, so far as practicable, will see that obser- 
vational conditions provide for this unconscious social 
imitation. 

In the case of most functions, one needs to see them 
performed by others, With only a few things, as for 
example, winking the eyes or walking, one’s instincts 
are fairly definite and one scarcely needs to view the 
patterns set by others. But most of one’s instincts do 
not provide for the exact forms of action. It is what 
one observes others doing that gives him the forms. 
He sees, for example, some one drive a nail with a 
hammer. He then can drive a nail with a hammer. 
He may do it awkwardly at first; but the observation 
has given him his whole pattern. He simply works to 
that pattern until he can do it skillfully. Observation 
supplies the things omitted in the instincts. Thus 
nature has provided for social adaptation. 

2. Performance of function. The mind grows ac- 
cording to its patterns. But it will not grow without 
exercise of function. The patterns are not merely to 
be looked at. They are to be used. However good 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 49 


the pattern, one will not learn to saw a board, or do 
handwriting, or play a piano, until one saws boards, 
and does the handwriting, and plays the piano, for him- 
self. One will not learn to perform the functions of 
the good citizen by looking on. Observation will give 
him the patterns of conduct, but not the substance. 
He must himself perform the functions of the good 
citizen before there can be hope of growth in civic 
ability. In one’s occupation, one needs the patterns 
of performance; but one will become skillful, resource- 
ful, and responsible only as one performs the labors of 
the occupation for one’s self. 

For the academic activities of the school, this is old 
doctrine. Of course we have practice in handwriting 
to give one power to write; in dictionary work to give 
one power to use the dictionary; and in the other so- 
called “fundamental processes.” 

The difficulties begin to arise when there is need of 
functioning which is not merely academic. In occu- 
pational functioning, for example, the school can give 
some preliminary ideas of tools, materials, and proc- 
esses; and sometimes a certain amount of mechanical 
drill and skill in the use of tools. But in most occu- 
pations the responsible work itself cannot be brought 
to the schools. The fundamental educational ex- 
periences can be had only out in the community in the 
practical occupation itself. It is therefore no easy 
matter to arrange and administer occupational edu- 
cation. 

The difficulty is even greater in the case of citizen- 


50 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


ship training. Here in large measure we lack even the 
patterns of conduct. No one knows specifically just 
what the good citizen should do in his capacity of good 
citizen. We know a few things, but are disagreed upon 
most. Therefore we do not know what civic conduct 
the pupil should observe in mature good citizens by 
way of securing his patterns, and then himself perform 
for the sake of the training. We do not even admit 
that he needs thus to observe and to perform re- 
sponsible civic activities as a means of developing 
civic ability. We admit that one must practice hand- 
writing, not merely talk about it; but our citizenship 
courses ordinarily assume that one can acquire civic 
and economic abilities by talking piously, patriotically 
and sentimentally about social arrangements, rights, 
and duties. It is an easy way to spend the time; it has 
values; but it should scarcely be dignified with the 
name of citizenship education. 

_ Similar difficulties arise in arranging training through 
fundamental practical experiences in most of the fields 
of human functioning: health, recreation, parenthood, 
unspecialized practical arts, and even language. 

One of the most mischievous obstacles to educational 
progress is the false assumption that all necessary 
processes of education are possible at the schools; and 
that whatever is not there possible is not necessary. It 
is a subject-teaching fallacy. As education becomes 
functional, this conception must be discarded. Of 
course, there is much which can best be done at the 
schools; but there is also much, and possibly the more 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 51 


important portion, which is best accomplished through 
activities in other places in the community. There is 
nothing in the nature of things which decrees that all 
education is to be taken care of at schools any more 
than that all health is to be taken care of at hospitals. 

Whether we appeal to science or to common sense, 
the dominant principle of educational method appears 
to be this: The mind grows according as it is exercised. 
Ability to function is developed through normal exer- 
cise of function. One learns to do a thing through do- 
ing it. One acquires normal attitudes toward a 
function and toward everything related to it by per- 
forming it under normal conditions. One acquires 
power to direct a function with wisdom by directing it 
with all the wisdom one can muster and maintain. One 
learns to live a civilized life of the type approved by 
our age by living a civilized life of the type approved 
for our age. 

These experiences of “normal living” type, from 
which education normally results, we shall call the 
fundamental educational experiences. Education will 
employ them in maximum measure; and anything else 
only so far as needful. 

Almost every objective of education can be stated as 
the ability to do something, whether subjective or ob- 
jective. The principle above stated therefore applies 
to practically the whole of education. 

A thing will often be done crudely and awkwardly in 
the beginning. Skill will be developed by repetition. 

It will often be performed at first on a simple and 


52 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


primitive level. Any steep is to be climbed by be- 
ginning at the bottom. 

For many things a good deal of information is needed 
for guiding the processes; and this information is too 
intangible and complex to be picked up incidentally as 
a part of the performance. In this connection three 
things are to be said: 

(1) Greater dependence can be placed upon the 
normal processes of living, when rightly conditioned, 
as a means of mastery of information needed for direct- 
ing the normal processes of living, than is ordinarily 
assumed. 

(2) Often there must be conscious preparatory or 
preliminary mastery of technical information related 
to the activity prior to undertaking the activity itself; 
together sometimes with still further studies proceed- 
ing alongside. In such case the gathering of the in- 
formation is an organic part of the total performance 
of the function. It is information-mastery on the 
functional level. We shall call this the preliminary, 
preparatory, or accessory portion of the educational 
experience to distinguish it from the fundamental 
educational experiences of normal living. 

(3) Experiences of fundamental ‘“‘normal living” 
type on the intellectual play-level appropriate to the 
different degrees of maturity of childhood and youth 
should result during the earlier years in an abundance 
of the information called for later in one’s practical 
activities. ‘Thus fundamental activities of one sort in 
one year lay informational foundations for funda- 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 53 


mental activities of other sorts in a later year. This is 
to say that if sequences are properly cared for, educa- 
tion can depend mainly upon fundamental experi- 
ences; and will have recourse to accessory ones only 
where matters are specially technical. 

3. Reading. Language is an instrument of vision. 
So intimately is it inwrought in the organism it would 
perhaps be more accurate to call it an organ of vision. 
The current gossip, for example, that our friend brings 
to us enables us to see what he has seen about as 
clearly as if we had seen it ourselves. If he is more 
clear-seeing than we, and skillful in language, he may 
enable us to see the things more clearly than if we had 
seen them with our own eyes. 

Man is untiring in viewing the world through the 
medium of language. He is never sated with the 
gossip concerning his friends and the immediate com- 
munity affairs. Avidity grows with what it feeds 
upon. Deep-seated instinct lies at the core of the 
language type of observation. f 

It has advantages over direct observation. It tran- 
scends the limitations of time and space and sense. It 
lifts the curtain upon the whole nation and all of its 
activities, the whole world and all of its strivings, and 
even the universe beyond as far as man has been able 
to penetrate. It opens up the past to one’s vision. It 
can make the long past live before one’s eyes as clearly 
as the past of an hour ago. It enables one to see the 
hidden, the minute, the intangible, the invisible, the 
general, 


54 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


It has a further very great advantage. With the 
eyes of sense one must do one’s own seeing; and none 
can help. But when one observes through the medium 
of the language of others, the seeing ones can greatly 
help the unseeing ones. The mature can help the im- 
mature; the trained, the untrained; the competent, the 
incompetent. When the clear vision of the most dis- 
cerning few is put into language, it can become the clear 
vision of all. There is no influence greater than this for 
the upbuilding and maintenance of our civilization. 

The language revelation of the world will mainly 
take the form of reading. 'The major problem then is, 
What should be read? In the search for a solution, 
let one ask this question: What should man observe? 
With what things should one, through this indirect 
observation, become familiar? 

Man no longer lives within a narrow community. 
He has come to live in a large world, and one that is 
endlessly complex. He needs to see this world in a 
large way and ina balanced way. He needs to see the 
essential factors which make it up, and the forces 
which operate it. These are exceedingly numerous. 
Some of these are human things and some non-human. 
The experiences of observing them should be abundant 
and unceasing. .Out of this, the balanced vision 
grows. Most of this observation must employ the 
medium of reading. One will see the things through 
the eyes of those who have seen them directly, deeply, 
and clearly, and who have skillfully wrought their 
vision into language. 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES _ 55 


After the curriculum-maker has discovered what 
man should observe, his second step is to find the re- 
vealing readings. ‘The best the world has to offer are 
the only ones that are good enough. They must be of 
a kind which easily arouse one’s instinct to observe. 
They must therefore be very human. This means 
that for the most part they should be concrete, 
vivid, emotionalized. They should be replete with 
the many details, so deftly handled by the skilled liter- 
ary artificer, that awaken native interests, and auto- 
matically catch man’s very human kind of attention. 

The reading is to be a mode of experience, a mode 
of normal living. It is to be for the slow year-long 
growth of the twigs, branches, and trunks of the mind. 
Most of the detailed matters met with in the reading, 
like foliage, will be deciduous. In fact it must be de- 
ciduous and fall away if growth of the trunk and 
branches is to be healthy and normal. 

Provided the right selections are used, the reading 
experience is best where there is least consciousness of 
the educational purposes; where one is simply luxuri- 
ating in human experiences. Certainly there should 
not be the quite unhuman purpose of merely placing 
information in mental storage. ‘There should be no 
attempt to make permanent the things which should 
be deciduous. 

One should here distinguish between “education as 
memorization of facts” and “education as growth of 
powers by means of exercise of function.” It is the 
latter to which we refer. For growth, the readings 


56 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


should provide abundance of exercise; and continuing 
exercise. It should provide for growth through the 
years of growth, and for maintenance through the 
years of maintenance. 

4. Oral report. In one’s indirect observation by 
means of language, one mainly will read. But often 
he will listen to the reports of others. These will be 
presented by teachers, juvenile associates, parents, 
friends, members of the community, travelers, investi- 
gators, lecturers, and others, according to circum- 
stances. 

Since one’s natural or instinctive form of language 
is oral and auditory, there is a vividness in this mode 
of presentation which is ordinarily lacking in the 
printed word. For this reason, particularly in the 
earlier years of education, there should probably be a 
quite considerable quantity of listening to the oral 
reports of experiences and observations of others. As 
one grows more mature, reading comes to be so much 
a matter of habit as to be practically as easy and 
automatic as the auditory forms. 

5. Pictures. Pictures, using the term to include all 
available kinds, provide us with another means of ob- 
serving things distant, past, and otherwise inaccessible 
to direct observation. They are specially valuable 
for giving one a visual imagery of details, both of 
things and of processes. On the visual side there is a 
vividness and detail that is distinctly superior to that of 
the language presentation. Doubtless pictures should 
be used in far greater abundance than is yet practicable. - 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 57 


Yet there are serious limitations: (1) Pictures pro- 
vide for an understanding of only the visual aspect of 
things. The reports from the other senses are lacking; 
and these are matters of no mean significance. 

(2) Pictures reveal only the outward or material 
appearance of things. ‘The essence of human life and 
experience is not material and is not visible to the eye 
of sense. The deep-lying forces and influences which 
operate the world are not things that can be revealed 
by pictures. 

* (3) Pictures reveal only the concrete. While there 
should be an abundance of this, yet we need some type 
of presentation which reveals the general. 

(4) Except in the case of relatively simple and con- 
crete matters, it is not possible to use pictures to give 
over to all the thought and judgment of the discern- 
ing few. 

In all of these matters, language is immeasurably 
more serviceable than pictures. ‘These limitations of 
pictures should be noted because of a tendency in cer- 
tain quarters to over-value the possibilities of pictures 
as means of education. ‘They should be used abun- 
dantly to supplement language presentations; but they 
are not the major means of educational experience. 

6. Prolonging, repeating, and intensifying one’s 
experiences. It is in the nature of man to think over 
his more vivid and significant experiences, to repeat 
them in imagination, to tell them to others, and thus 
to re-live them a second, third, tenth, or hundredth 
time. Some of this is done in the quiet of one’s soli- 


58 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


tary meditations; and some of it as he discusses his ex- 
periences with his associates. Each of these forms has 
its values and the curriculum should employ each kind 
in due measure. 

7. Problem-solving. In one’s thought, whether in 
solitude or in group, one is ever dealing with problems. 
Where things are clear and understood, they are taken 
for granted and passed by. Where decisions have 
been made, conclusions drawn, or plans perfected, 
there is nothing further to consider. It is where 
things are not clear, where decision hangs in the bal- 
ance, where problems are to be solved, that one gives 
his attention and his thought. 

In the degree in which education is living experi- 
ence, the pupils will be meeting with problems at 
every turn of the road. Problem-solving, individually 
and in class-discussion, will be a major type of pupil 
experience. 

8. Generalization. In one’s observations, one may 
see concrete things of a kind as individuals; or he may 
see them as a class. He may see the operation of a 
force within a specific situation; or he may see it oper- 
ating within a number of situations and discern its 
common nature and operation in them all. To see the 
world in a generalized way is thus but a portion of 
one’s observation of it. 

Where observations in any field are easy, frequent, 
and abundant, one normally and inevitably does 
much classification and _ generalization without 
thought or effort. But where forces are intangible 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 59 


and difficult to see, and relations still more difficult, 
then the original concrete observations tend to be 
lacking; and as a consequence the generalizations 
naturally do not crystallize themselves out. Effort 
must be made in doing the original seeing. Labora- 
tory demonstrations, field observations, social surveys, 
and the like, will be mainly for assistance in making 
the original concrete observations. 

A large part of the problem-solving will be making 
analyses and arriving at generalizations. Another 
large part will be using the generalizations in the an- 
alysis of new situations. 


Tue More Sprcrric Pupitt Activities 


It appears possible thus to enumerate a relatively 
few general types of experience. As the curriculum- 
maker then takes up the several objectives, one by one, 
or by cognate groups, he will find the specific ways in 
which these general types of experience will manifest 
themselves. Looking to any given objective, he will 
set down the specific activities that the pupil will per- 
form. Let us take a single objective and illustrate: 

The Objective: Ability to choose a vocation 
which promises satisfaction and success. 

Pupil Activities: 
1. The pupil will observe the labors and the working con- 


ditions of the several vocational groups existing in his 
community. 


2. He will participate in the practical labors of some of the 
occupations, either inschool-shop “exploratory” courses 
or as part-time helper in outside vocational labors. 


60 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


3. He will view numerous vocations indirectly through 
readings that present them concretely, vividly, and ad- 
equately. 


4, Ele will view pictures which show the working condi- 
tions of numerous occupations, and the processes per- 
formed. 


5. He will listen to the oral presentations of those who 
have worked in the occupations themselves. 


6. He will analyze the several occupations studied and 
make comparisons relative to hours, wages, sanitary 
conditions, and chances for advancement. 


%. He will talk over his experiences, observational, analy- 
tic, participative, and the like, with both juvenile and 
adult associates. 


8. He will, etc., ete. 


This may be continued much further. It is good to 
state each activity in terms of what the pupil will do 
or experience. One should avoid stating what he will 
know or be, since these latter are neither activities 
nor experiences. 

Often one will take a group of cognate objectives, 
such as those stated in later chapters for the literature 
or science, since they are closely interrelated, and 
work out the pupil-activities for all of them at once in 
one list. But in such case one should take up each 
objective separately, and carefully examine one’s 
final list of pupil activities to see that each objective 
is adequately cared for. ‘ 

In the case of most objectives, there is a long road 
to be traveled from infancy to maturity. The pupil 
activities will differ according to the ages of the pupils. 


PUPIL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 61 


The first step is to formulate a composite list which 
enumerates all kinds of desirable experiences involved 
in the entire journey. This done, the next step is to 
decide which of these are appropriate to the early 
grades, and in what form; which to middle grades; 
which to later grades; and so on to the adult level. 

When this is done one still has but a list of the types 
of activities and experiences. The final step then is 
to lay out the detailed activities of these various types 
for the day-to-day experiences of the children on each 
age or grade level. One needs the list of types before 
him for guidance in the choice of cetails. The latter 
make up the curriculum. 

The formulation of the list of types of pupil ex- 
periences is greatly complicated by the presence of in- 
dividual differences. The activities of pupils of large 
natural ability must often, possibly usually, be differ- 
ent in many respects from those of children of lower 
natural ability. For all ability-levels, there will be the 
same general types of experiences. But they must be 
very different in quantity and proportion. In drawing 
up the pupil activities and experiences which make up 
the detailed curriculum, the work must be done sepa- 
rately for the gifted, the average, and the sub-average. 

In large measure this differentiation must result 
from practical trial. It seems that our first respon- 
sibility is to work out the pupil activities and experi- 
ences that will carry the gifted pupils most effectively 
to the highest practicable heights. This done, we 
shall have the average pupils travel the same road so 


62 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


far as it is in their power normally to do so; but 
modify it so far as their limitations make it necessary. 
The sub-average will travel the road laid out for the 
average so far as they can do so; but they will depart 
from it when their limitations make departure neces- 
sary. 


CHAPTER V 
GENERAL EDUCATION 


EDUCATION exists on two levels: the foundational and 
the functional. The foundational education is the 
unfoldment of the powers of the individual without 
consciousness of the relation of these powers to specific 
functions. The child at play, for example, is having 
experiences for the joy of the experiences. Neither he 
nor his parents look upon them as conscious prepara~ 
tion for the specific abilities of the man in discharging 
his adult responsibilities. He is merely acting from 
inner impulses in response to the immediate stimula- 
tions and opportunities. He is living. He is not 
being “educated.”’ And yet his experiences are con- 
ditioning — and in a sense, producing — his general 
growth: physical, social, intellectual, aesthetic, moral. 
For example, his musculature is being developed by his 
play: strength, endurance, quickness, and certainty of 
codrdinations. ‘This is quite general muscular devel- 
opment. The physical powers thus developed will 
function later in the specific activities of the adult 
whatever they may be. 

The foundational training results largely from ex- 
periences upon the play-level. The broad range of 
diversified physical play is the experience which best 
lays the physical foundations of one’s life. It is the 
diversified activities of social play which lay the foun- 


64 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


dations of one’s social life. The numerous and diverse 
types of intellectual play, more than anything else, lay 
the foundations of all of one’s intellectual life. And 
equally, it is one’s esthetic play activities and experi- 
ences which provide the fundamentals of one’s esthetic 
life. While much of this will be extra-mural, yet the 
schools will provide abundantly for experiences on the 
play-level. Since this will be done by teachers, they 
must be conscious of the play-activities as educational 
procedure. ‘Those being trained, however, will see it 
only as play experience. On the foundational level, 
the children will not be conscious of the specific edu- 
cational objectives. 

This is the first level of general education. In 
quantity of experiences and in time allotment it will 
probably constitute the largest portion of one’s educa- 
tion. To the teacher’s vision it is fully functional in 
the sense that the foundations are being laid for the 
later specific functions. ‘The experiences are to be 
carefully conditioned and guided by the teachers in 
such way that they will lead to growth along physical, 
social, intellectual, and sesthetic lines of sorts that are 
needed as foundations of the specific abilities that are 
to be built thereon. ‘Teachers will see that the growth 
is balanced, proportioned, harmonious and full, pro- 
ducing a full-grown, well-rounded man or woman; not 
a distortion. 

On the physical side, there are differences among 
individuals. Yet the broad outlines of growth and the 
experiences that condition growth are much the same 


GENERAL EDUCATION 65 


for all normal persons — the only type with which we 
are concerned in the discussions of this volume. 
Equally, on the side of social, intellectual, zesthetic and 
moral potentialities, there are individual differences. 
And yet for all normal persons the broad outlines of 
growth are about the same, and the general types of 
experiences are much the same. In details they will 
differ endlessly according to general native capacity 
and special aptitudes; but only in the details of the 
program. Since the foundational growth along the 
several lines should continue through elementary 
school, high school and junior college, we find here a 
justification for certain “constants” which should run 
through all the grades of general education and which 
are part of the training of all individuals. 

It is not enough, however, to have one’s general 
powers thus unfolded by diversity of experiences 
on the play-level. The responsible man or woman has 
things todo. He should be trained to do them specif- 
ically and to do them well. He should be conscious of 
his responsibilities, and the need of proficiency in per- 
forming the specific activities. This brings us to the 
level of functional education. It is not really more 
functional than what we called the foundational, but 
it is consciously so; and the functions are specific and 
are held before one as the goals of the training. Here 
the pupils as well as the teachers should be conscious 
of the educational ends. 

Of the fields of specific functioning, we have said 
that there are ten — as classified in Chapter II. Of 


66 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


these, nine are non-specialized. The abilities are to be 
developed in all individuals. Not equally, of course, 
since potentialities are unequal. But in kind, the 
powers aimed at will in general be about the same. As 
students are classified into ability-groups, high, 
medium, and low, the broad outlines of each program 
will be the same. The details will be as different as 
individual differences make necessary. It seems 
therefore that the nine fields of non-specialized func- 
tional activities call for a broad range of “constants” 
for all students. Except for the differences demanded 
by variations in capacities and aptitudes, there seems 
to be no call for specialization in these nine fields of 
functional training. 

That portion of the training, both foundational and 
functional, which is of general need, whatever be one’s 
occupation or station in life, we shall call in this vol- 
ume general education, the term signifying non-spe- 
cialized education, or the common element in the 
training of all persons. Except for brief references 
here and there to occupational training, all the discus- 
sion of this volume relates to the common or general 
education. 

Over against this is the tenth functional field of 
specialized or occupational education. Here each oc- 
cupation is analyzed independently by way of discoy- 
ering the specific activities involved. The objectives 
will be only the specialized abilities called for by the 
specific activities. The abilities will be developed 
only in those who have chosen to go into the given 
occupation where they are demanded. 


GENERAL EDUCATION 67 


When things are included in the educational pro- 
gram for occupational purposes, they will be placed 
only in the occupational courses, and taken only by 
those who are consciously taking their occupational 
training. For example, activity-analyses will show 
that trigonometry is called for by the activities of the 
engineer; that it is not called for by the activities of 
typists, physicians, or milliners; nor by the general 
activities of persons outside of their occupations. As 
a consequence, trigonometry will be prescribed as oc- 
cupational training in the courses for engineers, but not 
in courses for the other occupations named; nor for 
general education. Never will a subject be placed in the 
general training for all persons simply because it rs of 
specialized value for certain occupations. When this is 
done, one has employed vocational analysis as a 
method of discovering the objectives of general educa- 
tion. 

The absurdity of this confusion of vocational and 
general is obvious when one clearly distinguishes the 
two. The error, however, is common because of a 
frequent haziness of ideas relative to the constituents 
of the general and of the vocational, and of the rela- 
tions of the one to the other. Thus trigonometry is 
often included in the high school for vocational pur- 
poses and then opened to everybody for general educa- 
tion. ‘There is similar confusion of vocational and 
general in the administration of algebra, physics, 
drawing, practical arts, Spanish, economic geography, 
and many other matters. 


68 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


In the following statements, we indicate some of the 
details of the program which appear naturally to fol- 
low. In some degree the statements anticipate mat- 
ters later to be discussed. ‘They refer to all levels of 
education from kindergarten to junior college. 


Tur PRoGRAM 


1. The general training needed at present by any normal 
person of whatever station goes much beyond that 
needed a generation ago. 


2. The general training will provide the foundations for all 
functional training; and also care for all functional 
training except the specialized or vocational. 


8. For those who intend to secure that fullness of general 
training which is needed by the men and women of to- 
day, the entire public school period from kindergarten 
to the end of senior high school or junior college will be 
devoted to the general training; the specialized or occu- 
pational training will not begin until the close of the 
high school or junior college. 


4. With possibly a few exceptions, later to be mentioned, 
the general training should probably occupy the entire 
time of the student so long as he is taking the general 
training; when the time arrives for beginning his spe- 
cialized training, the general should end and the entire 
time of the student be devoted to intensive, responsible 
training for his occupation. 


5. Courses are to be drawn with the presumption that stu- 
dents will take both general and occupational training; 
and in the order of sequence best for both. 


6. The junior high school should assume that its purpose is 
general and not vocational trainmg. The student who 
goes on to the senior high school will take only general 
training on the junior high-school level. The latter will 
organize all of its work so as to emphasize the general 
and so as to postpone the vocational. 


GENERAL EDUCATION 69 


7. Senior high-school students should be encouraged to 
take the entire general training course before entering 
upon the vocational training. 


8. The general training program will consist of two por- 
tions: 

(1) The basic general training. This is training for 
those human qualities and abilities the need or 
desirability of which is universal, evident, and 
generally accepted. 


(2) Additional opportunities or extras. These are de- 
signed to train for human activities that are not 
specialized and yet not universal; for things that 
appear to be relatively remote from fundamental 
human activities; and for things upon which 
there is no relative unanimity of judgment. 


9. The lines of training to be cared for in the basic general 
program are probably the following: 


(1) English language: reading, oral and written ex- 
pression. 


(2) Citizenship attitudes, judgments, and activities. 
Social studies. 


(3) Literature: English and general. 

(4) The several science fields. 

(5) Everyday mathematics. 

(6) Physical training, hygiene, sanitation. 
(7) Unspecialized practical arts. 

(8) Musical appreciation and judgment. 
(9) Art appreciation and judgment. 


10. Capable, industrious and ambitious students should be 
permitted to widen their general training program 
through the taking of certain extras, such as the follow- 
ing: 

(1) Foreign languages. 

(2) Advanced mathematics. 

(3) History of English Literature. 
(4) Music for technical proficiency. 


70 


ia 


12, 
13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


Livy 


18. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(5) Art for technical proficiency. 
(6) Literary writing for technical proficiency. 
(7) Typewriting. 
(8) Dramatics. 
(9) Public speaking. 
(10) And many others. 


Except as students are differentiated imto ability 
classes, there should be but one curriculum of general 
training, extending through all of the grade levels from 
primary to end of junior college. Neither its outer 
boundaries nor its upper limits can be definitely fixed. 
In these outer and higher portions there should be full 
freedom of opportunity for any student to go as far as 
he will or can go, — so long as his total program is rea- 
sonably well balanced. 


The basic lines of training should never be elective. 


For normal persons, the extras should never be per- 
mitted to displace any of the basic lmes of training. 
They should always be additional to the basic training. 


The achievement of a desirable level of proficiency in all 
of the needed basic traming should be pre-requisite to 
the choice of any of the extras. 


Failure on the part of any student carrying extra sub- 
jects to maintain proper standards in the basic training 
should result in his dropping extra subjects until he has 
brought his basic training up to standard. 


Students will not be required to take any of the extras. 
They are offered as opportunities. Students should be 
permitted to take advantage of them provided the basic 
training does not suffer thereby. 


The only electives in junior high school, senior high 
school, or junior college will be those which are extras 
and taken over and above the basic general training. 


The extras will not be administered to the student who 
cannot take advantage of them without an undue 
amount of teacher labor. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


24, 


25. 


26. 


GENERAL EDUCATION 71 


In administering the basic training there should be at 
least three groups of students classified on the basis of 
ability. 


Students of sub-average ability will usually devote their 
entire time to achieving sufficiently high standards in 
the basic lines of training. Except as individuals of this 
type have well-marked special aptitudes, they will not 
elect any of the extras. 


Students of the middle ability group will devote their 
major time and effort to achieving sufficiently high 
standards in the basic training. In general, they will 
not elect any of the extras. Here and there however 
will be a student of special aptitudes along some partic- 
ular line, or of special industry or ambition, who will 
desire to take one or more of the extras. 


Students of the high-ability group will give the major 
portion of their time and energies to the achievement of 
specially high standards in the field of the basic train- 
ing. Because of their large powers of self-direction, 
their program will be so drawn, however, as to permit 
them to take a reasonable or even large advantage of 
the extras. This is always on condition that they 
achieve the approved levels of the basic training. 


. The basic training in its detailed content should first be 


formulated for the more capable ten or twenty per cent 
of the population. 


Courses for the less capable levels of pupil ability will be 
largely derived from that prepared for the most capable 
by abbreviation, elimination, lowering standards, pro- 
viding an easier gradient, and the like. | 


Each line of training should provide for such continuity 
of growth that any student will have had training along 
all lines at whatever point he may drop out of the school. 


The full values of the extras will be made clear to those 
students who are in a position to avail themselves of 
these opportunities; and they will be encouraged to 
take advantage of the opportunities. 


72 


27. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


The offering of sufficiently numerous electives, in addi- 
tion to the basic course, will give all desirable freedom 
of spontaneous choices to those in position to utilize 
such opportunities. 


The curricula designed for members of the three ability 
groups cannot consist of an equal number of equal 
units. Content of units must be unequal. The num- 
ber of units of the basic work may vary. The number 
of extras will vary greatly from individual to individual. 


In the basic general training, there should be a mini- 
mum of departmentalization. The extras of the gen- 
eral training may be departmentalized in any degree. 


There will be no specialization within the field of the 
basic general training. Both in character and in appli- 
cation, it is to be what the name indicates. 


Where there is specialization there is the presumption 
that it is vocational specialization. 


In addition to the one general training course where 
there is no specialization, but opportunities for many 
extras, there should also be offered many specialized oc- 
cupational courses. . 


Except as the schools train for all important occupa- 
tional fields, their influence will be to over-fill certain 
occupations and to prepare an inadequate number of 
entrants for other occupations. Both results are un- 
desirable. The schools should, so far as practicable, 
train in a balanced way for the entire range of uscful 
occupations. 


Except in special cases, the occupational training 
will come immediately after the close of the general 
training. 


. For those who cannot or will not avail themselves of op- 


portunities for full general training, the occupational 
training should be offered at the time that they choose 
to discontinue their general training. This means that 
occupational training is to be offered those who drop 
out of school upon each of the levels from late junior 


36. 


37. 


39. 


40. 


41. 


GENERAL EDUCATION 73 


high school to the end of the senior high school. This 
calls for low-grade occupational courses for immature 
students and high-grade courses for advanced students. 


Where a student leaving school prematurely finds it ad- 
visable to take a juvenile vocational training course 
prematurely, whether in the last year of junior high 
school or in some year of the senior high school, his gen- 
eral training should continue to the latest practicable 
moment before the vocational training is entered upon. 
The latter should then be given intensively by way of 
ushering him with the greatest practicable impetus into 
the occupation itself. 


Parents and children should be made thoroughly famil- 
iar with the nature, purpose, and content of the general 
training by way of securing their support for full gen- 
eral training prior to the vocational training. 


. The vocational training which can profitably be given 


upon the junior high school level must be training for 
a juvenile occupation or the juvenile level of an adult 
occupation. Nothing more than a relatively brief vo- 
cational course is therefore warranted. And it is only 
for those who leave prematurely. 


Vocational courses for those who leave school prema- 
turely should train for jobs which are actually obtain- 
able. 


Occupational courses will be long enough to achieve the 
approved standards of occupational proficiency; and 
no longer. Courses for different occupations will be of 
different lengths ranging from a few weeks to many 
months. They will not be artificially equated in length. 


For each occupation a careful study should be made of 
the amount of time actually needed for achieving any 
given standard of proficiency. The occupational 
course should then be of this length even though it be an 
irregular number of weeks or months. When the voca- 
tional training comes at the end of the general training 
and occupies the full time of the class, then this time- 
arrangement is easily administrable. 


74 


42. 


43, 


4A. 


45. 


46. 


47. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


There is to be no trifling with occupational training. 
It is to be administered only to those who have chosen 
an occupation and who intend to go directly from the 
training course into the oceupation itself. The only ex- 
ceptions should be where certain occupational courses 
are opened as extras to those taking the general train- 
ing. 


The general education needs to be improved, and the 
community understanding and appreciation of it de- 
veloped, if it is necessary to have a long anamic four- 
year occupational course in the high school in order to 
hold the students in school for the general training. 


The extras of the general training can often be em- 
ployed for building broadened and deepened founda- 
tions for specific occupational training to which certain 
of the students will lock forward. ‘This field of extras 
may therefore constitute a justifiable twilight zone be- 
tween the general training and the specialized voca- 
tional training. It may thus definitely count for both. 


When one of the extras can be part of the general train- 
ing of high-grade amateurs and at the same time voca- 
tional training for those who have definitely chosen 
that field for their calling, then it is possible and prob- 
ably desirable to have the vocational run parallel to the 
general training. This appears to be true of training 
for musicians, artists, designers, professional literary 
workers, foreign language interpreters, etc. ‘There are 
but few such occupations. 


Vocational courses parallel with the general training 
are probably justified only in the case of those vocations 
that one can enter currently into, usually at home, dur- 
ing school days: agriculture, animal husbandry, house- 
hold occupations; or those which can run as extras for 
the general training of amateurs while at the same time 
vocational training of professionals. 


Each occupational course should confine itself strictly 
to the matters involved in the particular occupation. 
General educational is not its province. 


48. 


49. 


50. 


GENERAL EDUCATION 75 


In the case of students going on to college, their major 
need is the general or unspecialized training. Among 
their extras, they may choose courses especially desir- 
able as foundation for already chosen professional 
courses to be taken on the college level. Except for 
these extras, for these students, there will be no pre- 
vocational training upon the high-school level. 


Boys and girls who postpone their occupational training 
until late should early acquire familiarity with occwpa- 
tions; be expected early to make choice of vocation; and 
to plan their education so as to take adequate care of 
both general training and vocational training. 


The ordinary high-school graduation requirements are 
based almost wholly on a pure subject-teaching concep- 
tion of education; and upon a false assumption of pupil- 
equality which calls for an equal number of equal units 
for the equal students. ‘The usual requirements are 
quite inappropriate for a functional type of education, 
designed for very unequal pupils. 


CHAPTER VI 
LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 


How do literature and general reading function in the 
general community life? How should they function? 

1. They widen the range of one’s observation. In his 
reading one can view human affairs in all regions of the 
earth and in all past ages. He can view human institu- 
tions in their nation-wide and world-wide distribution. 
He can view all types of men as they react within all 
types of environment. He can view all social classes 
and human groupings of every kind, together with 
their activities and the conditioning environment. He 
can see human nature in all of its aspects and its in- 
finitely diverse ways of working. As reported in his 
reading by those who have seen, he too can see things 
invisible to the eyes, hidden, intangible, minute, re- 
mote, general. Whatever man can see and report in 
language, he too can see. Thus reading removes the 
limitations of one’s narrow environment and gives one 
vision over and into a world as wide as any man’s 
Vision can extend. It takes him out of what would 
otherwise be his little world and places him in the 
midst of a large world. Literature is in a way a magic 
window overlooking the affairs of men and enablingman 
continuously to see to the farthest ends of the earth. 
It should be abundantly used by all men and women. 
It should present a vision that is true, undistorted, and 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 177 


proportioned. It should reveal the things which make 
up the world according to their values and their 
significances. 

2. Reading widens the range of one’s participation in 
the affairs of men. As one reads a vivid story which 
pulsates, let us say, with the life of the middle ages, in 
a very real sense one relives the human experiences of 
those days. In a narrative which reconstructs the life, 
for example, of India, one experiences for a time the 
life of India. In the same way, where the narrative 
is an adequate reconstruction of human experiences, 
reading makes it possible for one to participate 
vicariously in human experiences in any region of the 
earth and in any historical period. 

Reading enables one to live in a large world. The 
huge and beneficent institutions which man has created 
in recent generations could never have been developed 
by a race of beings whose vision and experiences were 
confined to their immediate physical and social en- 
vironment. They cannot be further developed except 
as there is this largeness of vision and experience. They 
cannot even be maintained on their present levels un- 
less there is continuance of these expansive experiences, 

3. It widens the range of one’s thought. The wider 
the range of one’s observational and participative ex- 
periences, the greater the quantity of thought materials 
and the broader the foundations of one’s thought. One 
is thus prepared to understand and appreciate the in- 
tellectual reactions of men living and thinking and 
expressing themselves under diverse conditions. Read- 


48 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


ing can then bring to one the more general thought of 
men of all times, regions, and environments in their 
reactions to life and affairs. It can thus take one out 
of the narrow provincial thought of one’s immediate 
environment and place him in the midst of the large 
world of infinitely diverse thought. 

4. It elevates one’s thought. In the nature of things 
there can be relatively few great thinkers. But all can 
read the writings of the few. All can then think the 
same large thoughts, in the same large ways — so far 
as their native capacity permits. In any case each one 
can rise above the plane of his own natural thinking. 
While lesser minds will not achieve the highest heights, 
they will rise to higher heights than had this influence 
been absent. 

5. It enables one to see with the eyes of those who 
have seen most clearly, and to feel with the hearts of 
those who have felt most deeply. As a matter of fact, 
mankind seems to live upon a plane which is above 
that which would be determined by the average vision, 
intelligence, and good-will, were this average operating 
alone. The follow-the-lead instinct is strong in man 
and he instinctively discerns the presence of those of 
larger vision and understanding. He tends strongly 
therefore to take on the vision provided by the clear- 
seeing ones as these latter express their vision in 
language; and to reflect the feeling and general reaction 
of those who feel most deeply and react most vigorously 
as these express themselves in language. 

6. Reading awakens the interests of men. As the 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 79 


modern world grows complex, and one’s contacts and 
interdependencies more extended, one needs to know 
about more things and therefore be interested in more 
things. To have experience with things, especially 
interesting experience, is the method of awakening 
one’s interest in those things. Reading provides ob- 
servational and participative experiences of kinds 
needed for awakening the interests. 

7. It enables one to live. Reading may function in 
the beneficent ways indicated; and yet in the main one 
reads simply as a mode of living. Life is action and 
reading is one mode of action. One does it because one 
likes to do it. Reading is scarcely normal except as 
one reads for the joy of the reading. In man’s normal 
living, newspapers, magazines, histories, and literature, 
are not studies to be labored over and the facts stored 
against a day of need. They are simply used as a 
means of experience. In proportion as that experience 
is vivid and normal, it accomplishes the proper results 
of the reading. 

In any analysis of community affairs, it will be dis- 
covered that reading plays a large réle; and that it 
probably ought to play a larger réle than it does. The 
curriculum-maker will find the kinds and amounts of 
readings which are best for man’s purposes. 

Since reading is a mode of indirect observation, he 
will ask, What should men observe? The things are 
countless in number. He has a long list to draw up. 
Then so far as reading is the best mode of observation, 
he will find the readings that are best for this purpose. 


80 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Since reading is a mode of vicarious participation, he 
will ask, In what affairs of mankind should one 
participate vicariously? Again the number is legion. 
After making the list, he will find the appropriate 
readings. 

Since reading is a mode of thinking the thoughts of 
others, the curriculum-maker will ask, What are the 
thoughts of men which should become the thoughts of 
the on-coming generation? What are the readings 
which present them in the most effective ways? 

In selecting readings for awakening interests, he will 
begin by asking, What are the countless things of the 
world, present and past, in which the full-formed man 
should be interested? He must have a long list of the 
major ones at least. Then he can find appropriate 
readings. 

We have gone far enough with this to illustrate how 
one is to take and to use the community point of view 
in selecting the readings of all kinds. Further sug- 
gestions are made, but not discussed, in the list of 
the objectives of literature and general reading. Fol- 
lowing such a plan, the curriculum in this field will be a 
rich program of vital experiences, satisfying in itself as 
experience, and yet a major means to the achievement 
of most of the abilities, attitudes, interests, apprecia- 
tions, and the like, which should characterize the full- 
orbed man. 

This program of experiences should begin in oral 
form in the pre-primary training. As reading, it should 
get under way in the primary school, though naturally 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 81 


in a form appropriate to the mental maturity of the 
little children. It will be continuous through all the 
later stages and levels of one’s schooling — an ever- 
expanding and deepening thing. 

The field of literature and general reading is one of 
great educational complexity; and of controversy. The 
educationist therefore should formulate in as definite 
terms as possible the platform of general principles 
relative to literature and general reading which he can 
accept and which he is to use for guidance in arranging 
the details of the program. 

In the report of the English committee on “‘ Reorgan- 
ization of English in Secondary Schools,” he will find 
many suggestions relative to planks which may appear 
in that platform. In practical curriculum-making, the 
writer has found the following platform of general 
assumptions and principles to be of service: 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


1. Our age, more than any preceding one, demands width 
of vision over all the world, past and present, and be- 
yond; it demands mental alertness, and awakened inter- 
ests in man and his affairs; and it calls for sympathetic 
civilized attitudes toward social groups, peoples, na- 
tions, and institutions. 


2. The most effective method of achieving these results is 
to come into sympathetic direct contacts with men and 
things the world over; but there are insurmountable 
limitations. 


3. Where direct contacts are not possible, and this applies 
to most of the world of the present and all of the past, 
indirect methods are to be employed. Of these, reading 
is the most important. 


82 


10. 


ze 


12. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


. Through reading it is possible to view indirectly the dis- 


tant, the inaccessible, and the past. As it reconstructs 
human experiences, it enables one to participate vicari- 
ously in all kinds of activities in all lands and ages. 


. One’s readings should be selected with a view to tht 


widest and most diversified indirect observation practi- 
cable; and to correspondingly wide and diversified vica- 
rious participation. 


. For general education, the emphasis in the revelation of 


things should be proportioned to the values or impor- 
tance of those things. 


. The readings should truly and faithfully portray what- 


ever they undertake to present. 


. The medium of indirect vision should give a view as 


true and undistorted as any medium of direct vision. 
In the degree in which it distorts the view, it falsifies it, 
and is unserviceable for its purposes. 


. A piece of literature is a language-window through 


which one looks out on the human drama; the less con- 
scious the observer is of the window itself, the better it 
is for purposes of observation. 


The reconstructions of human experiences provided in 
the readings should be suffused with all the color and 
warmth and beauty and tingle of life itself; with all the 
drabness, bleakness and ugliness of life itself; and with 
the whole gamut of human emotions. Lacking these 
things, it is not life; not a reconstruction of actual hu- 
man experiences; not a fit instrument for indirect obser- 
vation and vicarious participation. 


Readings are to be used for the experiences. Nothing 
can be so vital for education as the experiences them- 
selves. 


A reading selection usually carries, or ought to carry, its 
whole message within itself. Explanations and inter- 
pretations ought usually to be relatively needless. 
When otherwise, the selection is perhaps either unsuit- 
able for its purposes, or it is being read prematurely. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


VE 


18. 


19. 


20. 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING _ 83 


For men and women in general, literature is not to be 
studied for technique and form; it is to be used for the 
experiences. The writers intended nothing else. 


The major experience in using literature for education is 
reading it — abundantly — with enjoyment — under 
normal reading conditions. 


Most that the general reader needs to know about liter- 
ature he can learn through the process of using it. In 
order to use a field-glass effectively, the layman need 
not know anything about its structure beyond what he 
learns by using it. The same is true of any instrument 
or medium of vision, literature among the rest. 


The literary technician, whether amateur or profes- 
sional, must know the instrument itself with thorough- 
ness. He must know literary technique, be skillful in its 
application, watchful of technical matters in his own 
work and in that of others, interested in structural mat- 
ters, sensitive to flaws, appreciative of merits, and the 
like. All of these things he needs for his vocational pur- 
poses. His needs, however, are not those of the general 
reader. 


The less the general reader sees the technique of produc- 
ing effects, the more perfect may be the “‘illusion of life” 
produced by the reading. 


The character of the revelation provided by literature 
and general reading should vary with the degree of ma- 
turity of mind of the individual. In the beginning, 
readings will reveal things simple, primitive, concrete. 
As one matures, it will reveal things progressively more 
and more complex, intangible and general. 


It is not necessary to have a complete understanding of 
all details met with in the reading in order to have the 
experiences needed for mental maintenance and growth. 


It is not necessary that the reader understand all histor- 
ical, mythological, or scientific allusions. He reads for 
experiences; and no man pretends to a thorough under- 
standing of everything which enters into his daily expe- 


84 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


25. 


26. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


riences. Some things he understands thoroughly, 
some in considerable measure, some very little. We 
must expect reading in this respect to be like all experi- 
ences of normal living. 


Understanding of historical, mythological, technologi- 
cal, scientific, and other allusions is in the main to be 
developed through abundance of reading and other ex- 
periences in the fields of history, mythology, technol- 
ogy, science, and the like. To look up these allusions in 
handbooks, cyclopeedias, and “notes,” is but to get a 
brief smattering of things out of relation; and flavored 
with the musty dullness of didacticism. 


The story of the circumstances under which a literary 
selection was written is only occasionally valuable in 
securing the thought or the revelation which it conveys. 
The author, as he writes a selection, does not expect the 
circumstances to be investigated and studied. He ex- 
pects the selection itself to carry the whole message. 
In the degree in which it does not, it is deficient for its 
purposes. 


The history of the development of literary forms, struc- 
tures, and technique is a matter of little significance or 
value to men and women who are not literary special- 
ists. Books will not be read by the general reader 
merely because they have an historical interest for the 
literary specialist. 


The biographies of those who make literature are usu- 
ally of no more value than the biographies of those who 
make automobiles, sky-scrapers, or ocean liners. They 
should not receive a disproportionate amount of time. 


There is probably justification for a certain amount of 
literature that is pure play of fancy, unrelated to reali- 
ties, irresponsible, fantastic even as dream-life. But 
dreams should be recognizable as dreams. ‘They should 
not color one’s waking conception of realities. 


It is a mistake to assume that the artist can create a 
world of unreality which is more beautiful or interesting 
or valuable than things found in the world of actual re- 
alities. Dreams are pale beside reality. 


Q7. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


35. 


36. 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING — 85 


There is doubtless justification for the use of literature 
of music-type — rhythm and melody and harmonious 
sequences of emotion-producing imagery. For those to 
whom it appeals, this appears to have the same kinds of 
value as music itself. Fortunately, this tends to be an 
aspect of all great literature. 


Literary art has been devised to please the tastes of a 
race of beings whose natural interests are in the simple 
activities of family and immediate social groups, and in 
the concrete things of the environment. 


The literary presentation of things, forces, and rela- 
tions which are high, general, and impersonal, has little 
appeal to man’s native interests. 


The theory of literary art has naturally been shaped by 
the simple, even primitive, psychology of mankind. 


The literary artist and connoisseur often tend greatly to 
exaggerate the values of literature which merely pleases 
man’s primitive tastes. 


For a portion of his reading the pupil will live up to the 
limits of his powers to view things general and imper- 
sonal. 


Studies about literature, for those who need such stud- 
ies, will be undertaken only after they are familiar with 
literature through having widely used and experienced 
it in normal and unsophisticated ways. 


Men and women are educated for the fifty years of re- 
sponsible adult life; not for the four years of relatively 
irresponsible college life. Literature is to educate for 
life, not for college. 


Reading habits are to be formed in ways and under con- 
ditions in which they are expected later to function. 


Self-directed home reading contains elements of value 
which cannot be included in the more academic school 
reading. In the degree which it possesses values su- 
perior to the school reading, this should receive recog- 
nition in the credit given. 


86 


37. 
38. 


39. 


40. 


41. 


42. 


43. 


44. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Most reading is silent, individual, and relatively rapid. 


Language in its natural form is a thing of the ear and 
not of the eye. For full effectiveness, therefore, some 
literature should be a thing of voice and ear. 


It is possible that the technique of awakening high hu- 
manistic attitudes, appreciations, interests, ambitions, 
ideals, sympathies, loyalties, and the like, will demand 
a considerable amount of oral reading, especially listen- 
ing to skilled oral reading by those whose character and 
social position reinforces the high message of the 
printed page. It is probable also that a pupil needs the 
emotionalizing that comes from oral reading on his own 
part. 


Since literature is to be chosen as a means of experience, 
it is a matter of indifference in what language it was 
originally written, or what the nationality of the writer 
was. Literature in translation is to be freely used. 


Those who read a foreign language should secure a por- 
tion of their literary experience through readings in that 
language. 


Most of the content and revelation of literature is hu- 
man and social. Most of it therefore should be classi- 
fied with the “social studies” group, its content chosen 
on the basis of the “social studies” objectives; and 
made an integral portion of the “‘social studies” pro- 
gram. 


A lesser portion of one’s literature and general reading 
reveals nature and is better classified with the natural 
sciences. 


The concrete levels of one’s experiences, whether the 
contacts be direct or indirect, are to be the bases of 
one’s generalizations. Except therefore as the litera- 
ture is of dream or music type, it provides concreteness 
for generalization purposes. 


. The teacher of literature should conceive himself to be 


primarily a teacher of human nature, human psychol- 
ogy, human forces and influences and relations. These 


46. 


AT, 


48. 


49. 


50. 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING = 87 


things literature presents — in the concrete, It is his 
responsibility to see that literature is chosen which pre- 
sents them well; and that they are used for generaliza- 
tions. 


The test of the educational benefits of reading must be 
the degree to which it has helped one to achieve the ob- 
jectives of his training. 


General training in literature in our high schools is not 
for the vocational training of writers. 


Only those are to be trained for vocational production 
in this field who have definitely chosen it as their work; 
whom studies of capacity show to be fitted for it; and 
who are capable of a large degree of self-direction in 
achieving the skills and understanding. 


Training for amateur literary production is to be given 
only to those of proven capacity, aptitude, and indus- 
try — and who require no great amount of teacher- 
effort and assistance. 


Teachers can easily discover those pupils who have 
keen enjoyment of literature and who are therefore re- 
sponsive to its beauties and other qualities. In the gen- 
eral written work of the school they can also discover 
pupils whose natural endowment appears to fit them 
for amateur or professional literary production. An 
elaborate technique probably is not necessary for the 
discovery of those who can profit from training for 
amateur literary activity. 


One cannot be dogmatic relative to matters in this 
complex and difficult field. The above statement of 
general assumptions and principles is merely suggestive 
of a pattern to be employed by the curriculum-making 


group. ‘They should have such a platform. They 


should draw it up for themselves. It should include 
nothing but what they can themselves approve. 


88 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Should they employ the foregoing suggestions as 
starting-point, they should revise the series until it 
contains nothing but what they approve; and until it 
omits nothing which they think should be included. A 
few further suggestions should be made: 

1. Each of the assumptions should be drawn with a 
clear view of the ways in which literature and general 
reading function, or should function, in the general 
community life. Special effort should be made to avoid 
the obsessions of the literary technician. 

2. In general education, we are training the “con- 
sumer” of literature, not the “producer.” He is de- 
veloping vision, appreciations, and other things that 
result from the use of literature, not the understanding 
and skill needed for producing it. The latter is 
specialized vocational training with which the general 
training has nothing to do beyond laying the foun- 
dations. 

3. The statements should be definite and clear. 
They are intended for guidance in making specific de- 
cisions. They cannot properly serve if they are un- 
duly general and vague. 

4. There should be no evasions merely because 
finality is unattainable at present. One should use 
the best evidence at one’s disposal and take the 
position which is supported by the burden of the 
evidence. As an educational investigator, his mind 
may remain in a state of suspended judgment; but as 
a practitioner he must take a position and do what ap- 
pears to be best. If we did nothing where investiga- 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 89 


tors must yet retain a suspended judgment, there 
would be little doing in our schools. 

5. The assumptions chosen should represent not the 
judgments of an individual but rather of a large group 
of professional workers who have thoughtfully ex- 
amined the problems and the evidence. 

6. Both the specialists in this field of literature and 
the general educationists should be concerned in formu- 
lating the general assumptions. The specialist is 
needed because of his intensive vision and under- 
standing; the general educationist because of the width 
and perspective of his educational vision and judg- 
ment. In the main the specialist will propose; the 
generalist will make ultimate decisions. 

7. After the basic assumptions and principles are 
once formulated and agreed upon, they should be con- 
tinuously used for guidance. Whatever they direct 
should be done, if practical conditions will permit. 
Whatever they forbid should be omitted from the 
program, whatever be our traditional professional 
thought and habit. 

Use of the principles for guidance does not call for 
undue suddenness in the introduction of new things or 
even in the elimination of undesirable ones. Speed of 
progress must necessarily be adapted to the nature of 
conditions. Often it must be slow. It should be only 
as rapid as practical conditions make advisable. 


Tuer OBJECTIVES 


The list of personal qualities and abilities presented 


99 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


in Chapter II was drawn up without reference to 
school subjects or departments. It is as complete as 
we have been able to make it. It probably includes 
those abilities and qualities which should be developed 
through the use of literature and general reading. Our 
task then is to discover those which can be achieved 
through the use or study of literature. If one has 
drawn up a different list for his own use, he will use his 
own list for the purpose. 

As one looks them over, it seems that general read- 
ing, including literature, can serve In some measure in 
the case of most of them. It is particularly service- 
able however in the case of certain ones. From 
Chapter IT, we select the following, retaining the same 
numbers, as major objectives of the literature and 
general reading: 


OpsEecTIVES OF LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 


402. Ability, disposition, and habit of abundant and diversi- 
fied reading as a means of enjoyable and fruitful indirect 
observation of men, things, and affairs; of vicarious partt- 
cipation in those affairs; and of entering into the thoughts 
and moods of others. 


501. A proportioned and emotionalized intellectual appre- 
hension such as one’s natural capacities will permit, of 
the realities which make up the world of man’s life. 

(a) Man; human nature; diversities of human nature. 

(b) Man’s activities and affairs in their diverse fields 
and forms. 

(c) Man’s institutions. 

(d) The territorial or regional groups that make up 
the local community, the state, the nation, and 
the world. Their situations and affairs. 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 91 


(e) The specialized or functional groups — eco- 
nomic, political, religious, and the like — to- 
gether with their special situations, activities, 
duties, rights, and relationships. 

(f) Man’s geographical habitat. 

(g) The development of man and of his nature, habi- 
tat, institutions, manners, and customs, special- 
ized groupings, etc., as revealed in biology and 
history. 

(h) The world of plant life. 

(7) The world of animal life. 

(7) The world of chemical phenomena. 

(k) The world of physical phenomena. 

(l) The geological world. 

(m) The astronomical world. 
(n) The world of number, quantity, magnitude. 

(0) The world of sound and music. 

(p) The world of language and literature. 
(q) The world of form, color, visual art. 
(r) Man’s inventions and creations. 


(s) The world in composite forms: woods, hills, 
streams, lakes, oceans, farms, cities, and the like. 
(t) The world of myth, legend, folklore, fairy tale — 
realities of a sort even though they are but cre- 
ated in man’s imagination. 
In each field: awakened interests; tendencies 
to attention; appreciations; normal emotional 
reactions. 


201. Ability to think, feel, act, and react as an efficient, intel- 
ligent, sympathetic, and loyal member of the large so- 
cial group — that group that is prior to differentiations 
and within which social differentiation occurs. Large- 
group or citizenship consciousness. Sense of member- 
ship in the total social group, rather than in some spe- 
cial class. LLarge-group local consciousness when deal- 
ing with local problems; large-group state consciousness 
when dealing with state responsibilities, large-group na- 


92 


202. 


203. 


213. 


601. 


602. 


603. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


tional consciousness when dealing with national mat- 
ters; large-group world-consciousness when dealing 
with mankind’s responsibilities for world cojperation 
and management. 


Ability and disposition to view the specialized or fune- 
tional groups and agencies, not as independent entities, 
but as service arms of the general social whole, without 
which they could not exist. 


The ability of the citizen to do his individual share in 
performing those social functions for which all citizens 
are equally responsible in the establishment, organiza- 
tion, maintenance, protection, oversight, and control of 
the specialized groups and agencies into which society 


_is differentiated for effectiveness of action. 


An understanding and appreciation of the social-service 
labors and sacrifices which have brought our institu- 
tions and social procedures to their present high levels 
of development. 


A sense of the brotherhood of man. A full sense of 
membership in the large or tota! social group. Large- 
group consciousness. A sense of human interdepend- 
ency, of community of nature, of origin, of vicissitudes, 
and of destiny. ‘Tendencies to action and reaction 
which are inherent in the large-group consciousness. 


Ability to see one’s environment, the near and the far, 
the personal and the impersonal, sub specie eternitatis, 
as a vast and restless sea of forces and phenomena, in- 
finite in extent, subtlety, and complexity. Ability to see 
and realize one’s interrelatedness with and within this 
boundless environment. (The vision provided by sci- 
ence — physical, biological, psychological, social.) 


Ability to catch for one’s self such glimpses as are per- 
mitted to finite vision of the Being which actuates the 
universe as revealed in natural manifestations, in living 
creatures, in mankind, in man’s highest examples, in 
the record of man’s thought and action and aspiration 
as presented in history, literature, art, science, philoso- 
phy, and in man’s religious literatures. 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 93 


604. Ability to participate as fully and abundantly as one’s 
original nature will permit in religious and philosophic 
thought of the type characteristic of man at his best and 
highest. 


605. Ability, habit, and disposition to follow the leadership 
of the world’s Men of Vision. 


301. Ability and disposition to talk and act in those sym- 
pathetic, tactful, and human ways that are both most 
agreeable and also most effective in the conduct of one’s 
relations with one’s associates; and conversely, to avoid 
the many things disagreeable to others. 


215. Ability wisely to choose a specialized occupation in 
which one can give good service to one’s self, to one’s 
family, and to society. 


109. Ability to make one’s various mental and emotional 
states and activities contribute in maximum degree to 
one’s physical functioning. 


12. Ability to read the written or printed expression of oth- 
ers with proper ease, speed, and comprehension. 


13. Ability to use dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, hand- 
books, card catalogues, reader’s guides, indexes, and 
other library and reference helps in finding facts or mae 
terials wanted. 


We are not recommending that the practical cur- 
riculum-maker accept these as the objectives of this 
training. We present them by way of suggesting the 
type of procedure which he should probably employ. 
He will use his own comprehensive series of educa- 
tional objectives as his starting-point. In it he will 
discover those for which he would employ the litera- 
ture and general reading. 

After the objectives are decided upon, they should be 
used. In time, this suggestion will be superfluous. In 


94 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


our present stage of educational development, how- 
ever, we are not accustomed to using specific and defi- 
nite objectives for guidance in formulating programs of 
education. Our professional habits are not yet formed. 

The curriculum-maker should be quite certain that 
no objectives are included except what can be ap- 
proved and used. Each one should have its due in- 
fluence in shaping the program. 

There will be a natural tendency to shun those 
objectives which look toward largeness of vision, 
understanding, and good-will. These latter seem 
alien to human nature in its natural state. Man’s 
natural spiritual stature appears to be more limited 
than he likes to confess. He is seriously earthbound; 
and is pretty uncomfortable except as he is near the 
solid and immediate things of earth. The high places 
tend to be vertiginous even for cultivated men. 

Because of this tendency of weak human nature to 
shy from things large and humanistic, we recommend 
that these very things be studied specially carefully by 
way of discovering their probable validity. If they 
are valid, they point to the most serious responsibil- 
ities resting upon our profession. 


Pupit AcTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 
The curriculum for any given pupil is the total 
series of activities and experiences which enable him 
to achieve his objectives. With the objectives before 
him, and with his general principles and assumptions 
for his guidance, the curriculum-maker will next draw 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 95 


up a statement of the general types of activities and 


experiences to be employed. He will have a state- 
ment somewhat like that of which the following is a 
beginning: 


1. 


2. 


The pupil will read abundantly relative to all important 
fields of human experience. 


He will widely observe mankind, human affairs, and 
the background of those affairs indirectly through read- 
ing. 


. He will participate abundantly in human affairs of all 


kinds and in all lands and ages, in vicarious ways 
through reading. 


. He will associate with others whose readings cover the 


wide fields which he ought to explore. 


. He will often talk over with juvenile and mature asso- 


ciates his reading experiences. 


. He will exercise a large degree of self-direction in his 


reading: materials, times, places, quantities, ete. 


He will listen to and heed the advice of teachers, par- 
ents, and other mature associates relative to things to 
be read. 


. For part of his reading he will follow the directions of 


teachers and parents. 


. He will read silently and relatively rapidly most of the 


time. 


. Some selections he will read repeatedly. 
. He will listen to the oral reading of others. 
. He will read orally for mastery of mechanics. 


. He will read orally at times for emotional intensifica- 


tion. 


. He will formulate his criteria of judgment relative to 


the worths of readings of various kinds. 


96 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


15. He will judge of the relative values of different types of 
things which he reads. 


16. He will cultivate a taste for readings which he consid- 
ers, in the light of his own criteria, to be of most worth. 


17. He will keep a classified record of his readings. 


18. He will read such newspapers and magazines as are 
fitted to his degree of maturity. 


19. He will frequently read things which demand all his 
powers to view matters upon a general level — as far 
above the level of the immediate and the concrete as his 
degree of maturity and general capacity will permit. 


20. He will utilize experiences of his reading for arriving at 
generalizations in many fields. 


21. He will, etc., ete. 


The curriculum-making group will considerably ex- 
tend this series of general types of pupil activities and 
experiences in this field. Yet it should not be extended 
too far, otherwise it enters into so much detail as to 
become unwieldy for its practical purposes. 

Into the next logical step, we cannot here go because 
of the limitations of space. This is to lay out the 
series of detailed pupil activities and experiences for 
each of the grades. The curriculum-making group 
will take the series of types of pupil activities, and plan 
the exact things to be done through all the weeks and 
months of the first grade; then through the second 
grade; and so on through each of the grades of general 
education to the end of senior high school or junior 
college. These statements will present lists of read- 
ings to be used; lists of problems to be solved on the 
basis of the readings; and whatever else will enter into 
the finished detailed curriculum. 


CHAPTER VII 
THE SOCIAL STUDIES 


A goon plumber is the man who can perform skillfully 
the one hundred and sixty kinds of jobs which analysis 
shows the good plumber must perform in the course of 
his labors. <A good citizen, qua citizen, is one who can 
perform sufficiently well the fifty, five hundred, or five 
thousand things which the good citizen is called upon 
by his social situation to perform. 7 

In the case of the plumber we know what the jobs 
are and can set them down in a list that can be ac- 
cepted by all good plumbers. In the case of the citizen, 
qua citizen, we do not know what the things are that 
he should do. We do not know whether they are few 
or many. We cannot set them down in a list that will 
be accepted by all who regard themselves as good 
citizens. 

In case we do not have the one hundred and sixty 
jobs of the plumbing trade before us, we know where 
to go to find out what they are. We have only to find 
the best plumbers at their work and list all of the kinds 
of activities which we see them performing. In the 
case of the good citizen, however, we do not even 
know where to go to observe him in action and thus 
to find out what his activities are. 

We say that the good citizen is the man who from 
his own choice and through his self-direction is diligent 


98 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


in doing the things which promote the welfare of his 
social group. This looks simple and obvious enough 
until we begin to make our ideas specific. What is the 
social group the welfare of which is to be promoted? 
The citizen appears to be a member of many groups. 
He is a member of a family group. As a vocationist, 
he is a member of the labor union, employer’s union or 
commercial organization. In his religion, he is a mem- 
ber of a church organization. He claims allegiance to 
a certain political party. He is a member of a frater- 
nal organization, and calls its members brothers. He 
is a unit in the general local community, be it city, 
village, or rural township; a member of the state 
group; a member of the national group. As a human 
being, he belongs to the world-group called humanity. 

It seems not to be enough to say that he should 
actively promote the welfare of each of the many 
groups of which he isa member. There appears to be 
serious conflict of interests among the several groups. 
It appears at least that intensive loyalty and vigorous 
support of one of them is frequently contrary to the in- 
terests of a different group of which he is a member. 
There is no agreement as to how he should distribute 
his loyalties. 

A second baffling question is, In what manner is the 
social welfare of the several groups to be promoted? 
The farmers have one program; union labor a second; 
business men’s organizations a third; social workers a 
fourth; and politicians of different stripe have an end- 
less number of conflicting suggestions. There is end- 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES — 99 


less clash of interests, with corresponding disagree- 
ment as to procedures. What is white to one is black 
to his neighbor. 

A third question is, In promoting the general wel- 
fare, to what extent should there be conscious and 
systematic control of individuals and special social 
groups and agencies by society at large, and to what 
extent should this control be left to the unconscious 
processes of society? Here again we have all shades of 
judgment from those who would leave the agencies 
practically autonomous and self-directing to those 
who would develop very elaborate and complete sys- 
tems of governmental direction and control. 

Inability to answer these and other fundamental 
questions, makes it impossible in the immediate present 
to make scientific analysis of the citizen’s functions on 
the basis of which to formulate educational procedures. 
The best we can do is to formulate a working hypo- 
thesis. Even this is endlessly difficult. And yet the 
curriculum-maker can do nothing until he has either 
the facts as to what the citizen should do or a substi- 
tute in the form of a working hypothesis. Since it is 
impossible at present to have the facts, the only possi- 
bility is a working hypothesis. ‘This naturally should 
be the best formulation which can be made on the 
basis of all of the social, economic, and political science 
that we have. 

In the present mood of our profession, the word 
hypothesis is under suspicion. We want nothing less 
reliable than science. This of course is a commendabie 


100 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


attitude and it should fire us with professional zeal in 
promoting that scientific research which will give us the 
science. In the meantime, however, we must frankly 
recognize that we do not have such science; and recog- 
nize further that the best hypothesis is, as a matter of 
fact, the beginnings of our science. In this field, we are 
only in the beginnings. 

We should recognize frankly that every textbook of 
citizenship training that we now have Is built, not on » 
facts as to the activities of the good citizen, but on the 
working hypothesis of the writer. Every course of 
study in this field drawn up by practical superin- 
tendents, principals, and teachers is built upon their 
working hypothesis and not upon survey-ascertained 
facts. There never has been sucha survey made. We 
have not yet the technique for making it. 

The practical question therefore is not whether we 
shall use science or hypothesis; it is rather a problem of 
what is the best hypothesis. While the textbook and 
curriculum-makers have always employed hypothesis 
as their starting-point, yet it seems that their hy- 
potheses have usually been incomplete. Rarely have 
they defined the citizen’s exact functions as their start- 
ing-point. We are not suggesting any new task but 
only that the usual one be performed more consciously, 
systematically, and completely. 

Those who say that only scientific analyses are 
permissible appear to assume that citizenship training 
should be postponed until the scientific activity- 
analyses have given us the finalities. There is no 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 101 


promise of any such thing in our generation. And 
what is more, the practical world is not operated by the 
method of postponement of its labors until science is 
complete. It uses what is available until there is 
something better. Nine tenths of the practical work 
of the world, says Huxley, is guided by hypothesis 
rather than by science. It must be so, so long as the 
science has not been established. 

It is probable that any experienced superintendent is 
as well qualified as the writer to formulate a working 
hypothesis as to the citizen’s functions. In any case 
the responsibility actually rests upon the superintend- 
ent and his associates to make decision. This task 
they cannot evade, except as they evade the entire re- 
sponsibility. 

The hypothesis accepted by the writer is indicated 
by the objectives which he here presents for illustration 
and suggestion. Since it is not expected that any 
school system will adopt this series, there is no need 
here to explain it in detail. The statement is clear 
enough to show the kind of objectives which any cur- 
riculum-making group should probably formulate for 
itself. In the nature of the case, all that is possible at 
present is thus to lay out the goals in broad outline. 
When reasonable agreement is reached on this pre- 
liminary level, then the time will have come for more 
exact analyses. 

The following are selected from the comprehensive 
series of abilities and bear the same numbers: 


102 


201. 


202. 


203. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


OBJECTIVES OF THE SOCIAL STUDIES 


Ability to think, feel, act, and react as an efficient, intel- 
ligent, sympathetic, and loyal member of the large so- 
cial group — that group that is prior to differentiation 
and within which social differentiation occurs. Large- 
group or citizenship consciousness. Sense of member- 
ship in the total social group, rather than in some spe- 
cial class. Large-group local consciousness when deal- 
ing with local problems; large-group state consciousness 
when dealing with state responsibilities; large-group 
national consciousness when dealing with national 
matters; large-group world-consciousness when deal- 
ing with mankind’s responsibilities for world codpera- 
tion and management. 


Ability and disposition to view the specialized or func- 
tional groups and agencies, not as independent entities, 
but as service arms of the general social whole, without 
which they could not exist. 


The ability of the citizen to do his individual share in 
performing those social functions for which all citizens 
are equally responsible in the establishment, organiza- 
tion, maintenance, protection, oversight, and control of 
the specialized groups and agencies into which society 
is differentiated for effectiveness of action. The young 
citizen-in-training is to acquire those abilities which, 
when adulthood is reached, will enable him to perform 
the following things in connection with the several spe- 
cialized social agencies: 


(a) Sharing fully in an informed and impelling public 
opinion, which looks to the general welfare in its 
control of each service agency. 

(6) Setting up in public opinion and maintaining the 
standards of results to be achieved by each serv- 
ice agency. 

(c) Seeing that each service agency aims at the stand- 
ards of results that are sanctioned by public 
opinion. 


204. 


205. 


206. 


207. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 103 


(d) Seeing that the service agency employs proced- 
ures which are effective in producing the desired 
results and which are economical in social costs. 

(e) Seeing that the material working conditions nec- 
essary for the most effective and economical pro- 
cedures are supplied. 

(f) Seeing that each service agency is provided with 
personnel and organization of the kind required 
by the procedures to be employed; and properly 
rewarded. 

(g) Directly or indirectly selecting or approving the 
selection of the personnel of the agency. 

(h) Supplying the funds necessary for the efficient, 
and in all ways proper, conduct of the agency. 

(2) Currently or periodically examining, directly or 
through publicity reports, or both, into the re- 
sults achieved by the agency, and the degree of 
economy employed. 

(7) Where results achieved and degree of economy 
employed comply with standards of expectation, 
approving and properly rewarding the labors of 
those who have thus given good service. 

(k) Where results do not reach the standards of ex- 
pectation, or where there has been waste, finding 
the causes of the deficiency, and removing them 
as expeditiously as practicable. 


Ability to organize and use social facts effectively in ar- 
riving at conclusions. 


The ability to use general principles in analyzing and 
considering economic, political, and other social prob- 
lems. 


Ability to protect one’s self from social, economic, and 
political fallacies, illusions, misrepresentations, petty- 
mindedness, fragmentary-mindedness, sentimentality, 
selfish prejudices, and the like, through one’s continual 
reliance upon facts and principles. 


Ability to discern the character and the extent of one’s 


104 


208. 


209. 


210. 


211. 
212, 


213. 


214. 


215. 


301. 


401. 


402. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


social obligations and duties in the amount and char- 
acter of things done for one by other individuals, groups, 
and agencies. 


Ability to discern one’s individual rights in the quantity 
of one’s services to the general group. Ability to read 
one’s rights as things earned. 


Ability to see social relations so clearly as to discern the 
duties of others, individuals and groups, within the so- 
cial whole. 


Ability to see social relations so clearly as to discern the 
rights of others within the social whole. 


Disposition of the citizen as consumer to avoid waste. 


A sufficient knowledge of the laws which one is expected 
to obey. 


An understanding and appreciation of the social-service 
labors and sacrifices which have brought our institu- 
tions and social procedures to their present high levels 
of development. 


Ability to organize and express one’s ideas clearly and 
effectively in the discussion, formal or informal, of so- 
cial problems. 


Ability wisely to choose a specialized occupation in 
which one can give good service to one’s self, to one’s 
family, and to society. 


Ability and disposition to talk and act in those sympa- 
thetic, tactful, and human ways that are both most 
agreeable and also most effective in the conduct of one’s 
relations with one’s associates; and conversely, to avoid 
the many things disagreeable to others. 


Ability, disposition, and habit of diversified observation 
of men, things, and affairs as an enjoyable and fruitful 
leisure occupation. 


Ability, disposition, and habit of abundant and diversi- 
fied reading as a means of enjoyable and fruitful indirect 
observation of men, things, and affairs; of vicarious par- 


408. 


501. 


601. 


602. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES ~ 105 


ticipation in those affairs; and of entering into the 
thoughts and moods of others. 


Ability to participate in the more formal public discus- 
sion of matters of current interest as an enjoyable and 
fruitful spare-time occupation. 


A proportioned intellectual apprehension, such as one’s 
natural capacities will permit, of the realities which 
make up the world of man’s life: 

(a) Man; human nature; diversities of human nature. 


(b) Man’s activities and affairs in their diverse fields 
and forms. 

(c) Man’s institutions. 

(d) The territorial or regional groups that make up 
the local community, the state, the nation, the 
world. Their situations and affairs. 

(e) The specialized or functional groups — economic, 
political, religious, and the like — together with 
their special situations, activities, duties, rights, 
and relationships. 

(f) Man’s geographical habitat. 

(g) The development of man and of his nature, habi- 
tat, institutions, manners and customs, specialized 
groupings, etc., as revealed in biology and history. 

(r) Man’s inventions and creations. 

(é) The world of myth, legend, folklore, fairy tale — 
realities of a sort even though they are but cre- 
ated in man’s imagination. 


A sense of the brotherhood of man. A full sense of mem- 
bership in the large or total social group. Large-group 
consciousness. A sense of human interdependency, 
of community of nature, of origin, of vicissitudes, 
and of destiny. Tendencies to action and reaction 
which are inherent in the large-group consciousness. 


Ability to see one’s environment, the near and the far, 
the personal and the impersonal, sub specie eternitatis, 
as a vast and restless sea of forces and phenomena, in- 
finite in extent, subtlety, and complexity. Ability to 


106 


603. 


604. 


605. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


see and realize one’s interrelatedness with and within 
this boundless environment. (The vision provided by 
science — physical, biological, psychological, social.) 


Ability to catch for one’s self such glimpses as are per- 
mitted to finite vision of the Being which actuates the 
universe as revealed in natural manifestations, in living 
creatures, in mankind, in man’s highest examples, in 
the record of man’s thought and action and aspiration 
as presented in history, literature, art, science, philoso- 
phy, and in man’s religious literatures. 


Ability to participate as fully and abundantly as one’s 
original nature will permit in religious and philosophic 
thought of the type characteristic of man at his best 
and highest. 


Ability, habit, and disposition to follow the leadership 
of the world’s Men of Vision. 


Ability to read the written or printed expression of oth- 
ers with proper ease, speed, and comprehension. 


Ability to use dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, hand- 
books, card catalogues, reader’s guides, indexes, and 
other library and reference helps in finding facts or ma- 
terials wanted. 


Ability to read and interpret facts expressed by com- 
monly used types of graphs, diagrams, and statistical 
tables. 


Ability to express facts by means of graphs, diagrams, 
and statistical tables. 


Ability to use maps with ease and understanding. 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


This is the most complex and difficult field of educa- 


tion. 


It is probably also our largest educational re- 


sponsibility. If there are general principles that can 
serve for guidance, they should be found, formulated, 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 107 


and used as a mariner uses his charts. Where it is not 
yet possible to have accepted principles, then obviously 
there should be found and formulated the best prac- 
ticable working hypotheses and assumptions. In 
fields of uncertainty, for guidance, the best thought is 
always safer than no thought; and definite formula- 
tions better than vague unformulated attitudes and 
opinions. We present the following series as examples 
of the kinds of guiding principles and assumptions 
needed. These series have grown up out of the 
practical judgments of many individuals, and have 
undergone the test of practical use in curriculum- 
making. ‘They are still, however, merely tentative 
and illustrative. Each curriculum-making group 
will formulate its own series. 


SoctAu STUDIES IN GENERAL 


1. The several social studies aim at objectives in the same 
field. In large measure they aim at the same objectives. 


2. The power to think and judge relative to social matters 
requires fullness of experience with social matters in 
connection with which one thinks and judges while in 
vital contact with the actual social forces, phenomena 
and problems. 


3. Power to act and react in socially desirable ways is to 
be developed by acting and reacting in socially desir- 
able ways. 


4. Power to codperate with others in desirable ways in car- 
rying forward social movements is to be developed by 
codperating with others in desirable ways in forwarding 
social movements. 


5. Power to participate in proper ways in general social, 


108 


10. 


phe 
_ of state and nation by entering into the active life of 


12. 


13. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


civic, and economic control is to be developed by parti- 
cipating in proper ways in general social, civic, and eco- 
nomic control. 


. Power to adjust one’s self to social forces, influences, in- 


stitutions, manners, customs, laws, etc., is to be devel- 
oped by practical experience in adjusting one’s self to 
them. 


. Power to function in any one of the several ways indi- 


cated in the objectives, is to be accomplished by actual 
functioning in those ways. Usually there needs to be 
certain conscious preparation for this functioning; but 
preparation has no significance except as it is simply the 
preparatory portion of the total process. 


. Back of all right social action, there must be right social 


attitudes, valuations, appreciations, and desires. Prep- 
aration for right functioning must take adequate care 
of these basic qualities of mind. 


. Back of all right action and reaction there must be 


knowledge of the social forces, movements, relations, 
causes, consequences, and the like. This knowledge is 
the indispensable guide to right action. 


One comes to know and to appreciate one’s own imme- 
diate society by living the life of that society in as var- 
ied a way as practicable: participating in its activities; 
directly observing the activities of others; listening to 
accounts of others’ activities; reading concerning the do- 
ings of others. 


One comes to know and appreciate the larger social life 


state and nation: participation, observation, conversa- 
tion, pictures, and readings. 


One comes to know and to appreciate any specialized 
functional group or agency by entering into the experi- 
ences of that group or agency: participation, observa- 
tion, conversation, pictures, and readings. 


One comes to know and to appreciate any country or peo- 
ple by living the life of that country or people. Natu- 


14. 


15. 


16. 


ivf 


18. 


19. 


20. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 109 


rally actual life in the country is most effective; but since 
this is usually impossible and since even direct observa- 
tion is usually excluded, one must mainly or wholly de- 
pend upon the vicarious participation and indirect ob- 
servation of pictures and reading. 


One develops an interest in social groups, functional 
and territorial, and in the affairs and problems of such 
groups by participating directly or indirectly in the af- 
fairs of those social groups. Lacking such experiences, 
one remains oblivious and indifferent. 


In one’s social studies, one will relive reconstructed hu- 
man experiences in all important regions and countries 
of the earth, and throughout the entire historical period; 
with greatest emphasis upon the near in both time and 
space. 


One will in the same way enter into the experiences of 
all major functional groups and agencies. 


Individuals should so enter into the experiences of 
social groups as to become familiar with their com- 
position, social situations and relationships, purposes, 
ambitions, motivating forces, duties, rights, respon- 
sibilities, services, needs, etc. 


To understand and appreciate the multitude of complex 
factors which make up the life of any social group — lo- 
cal, state, nation, family of nations or specialized func- 
tional group — it is usually well for one to live the life 
of the group from its simple beginnings down to the pres- 
ent; this calls for the history of social groups, institu- 
tions, and agencies. 


Rightly to know and appreciate human society, one 
must have that revelation of concrete personal and in- 
timate matters provided by literature in the narrower 
sense of the term. Literature for general social educa- 
tion has its special revelation to make; its content 
should be determined from this point of view. 


Even though the literature be directed by a separate de- 
partment, its program should be formulated mainly on 
the basis of social studies objectives. 


110 


Q1. 


ae. 


23. 


24. 


26. 


27. 


HOW ‘TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Rightly to know and to appreciate the non-human back- 
ground of man’s experience the world over, one must 
enter actually and vicariously into man’s active life the 
world over and thus come to know man’s natural envi- 
ronment through dealing withit. By using the opportu- 
nities which it provides, by yielding to the limitations 
which it imposes, by controlling and being controlled by 
it, and the like, one comes actually to know the geogra- 
phy of man’s earthly habitat. 


One comes to know and to appreciate the economic 
forces, mechanisms, institutions, customs, laws, ar- 
rangements, tensions, conflicts, and the like, by reliving 
the experiences of social groups of all sorts in which 
their economic affairs are truly and clearly revealed as a 
portion of the total experience. 


To understand and appreciate the political or civic 
forces, mechanisms, institutions, and the like, as one re- 
lives the total life of social groups of all kinds, he must 
enter in a balanced way into their political or civic ex- 
periences. 


To understand and appreciate man’s psychology, individ- 
ual and social, one needs to enter into human experi- 
ences, actually or vicariously, of all kinds and under all 
kinds of circumstances. 


. Rightly to understand and appreciate man’s moral sanc- 


tions and tabus, one needs to enter fully into human ex- 
periences actually and vicariously, within situations 
where those sanctions and tabus are actually operative. 


Rightly to know and appreciate man’s religious life and 
institutions, customs, aspirations, and the like, one 
needs to live actually and to relive vicariously man’s re- 
ligious experiences. 


In entering into man’s experiences, past and present, 
the world over, it is obvious that a very large part of it 
must be of the vicarious or indirect type. For this the 
reconstruction of experience should be adequate for the 
purpose. It should be for the one who is reliving it 
as nearly like the original experiences as practicable. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


35. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES — 11] 


The presentation should comply with literary canons. 
It should be literature. It should make the past and 
distant live again. It should not be a mere catalogue of 
dead facts, however well classified and arranged. 


The concrete presentations of human life and experi- 
ence in history, biography, travels, literature, geogra- 
phy, and the like are to be used for experiences. They 
are not to be memorized. 


As one relives the experiences of a nation or other social 
group, he will read the narrative relatively rapidly. He 
will read for the experiences. He will not try to memo- 
rize the details. 


Where experiences are vital and abundant, a normal 
residue of knowledge will remain in the memory. 


The motive which impels one to read the concrete re- 
constructions of social affairs should be delight in the 
experience itself. It should be experience upon the 
foundational or play-level. 


Reading as social experience should be an enjoyable lei- 
sure occupation during youth in order that it may con- 
tinue as an enjoyable leisure occupation throughout life. 


Didactic presentations to which students have to be 
driven are unsuitable means of social experience and 
growth. 


The usual social studies textbook is too brief and gen- 
eral to provide the concreteness needed for well-recon- 
structed human experience. 


Actual living of group life involves all the factors in 
composite form. It is impossible to present the histori- 
cal aspect without the geographical; the economic with- 
out the geographic and the historical; the civic without 
the economic and geographical. Atl are threads in the 
fabric of experience and each is relatively meaningless 
except as it is part of the entire fabric. The systematic 
studies consist of analyzing out the factors. ‘The latter 
must, however, first be known in their natural setting 


112 


36. 


37. 


38. 


39. 


40. 


41. 


42. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


before they can be known for the special purposes of the 
particular studies. 


Living the life of the group gives one the concrete mate- 
rials of thought; history, in the concrete; geography, in 
the concrete; and likewise economics, political science, 
human biology, and psychology. Out of the concrete 


experiences with groups should then grow up generali- 


zations and principles which should be formulated and 
stated as economic principles, political principles, geo- 
graphical principles, etc. This, however, is the culmi- 
nation of the process; and comes after the concrete 
experiences. 


The general is presented along with the concrete inas- 
much as it does not exist except in the concrete. Full- 
ness of concrete experience is the first step therefore in 
apprehending the general. 


General principles will not be formulated at any one 
stage in the studies; they will be gradually formulated 
as the basic experience accumulates, and as pupils be- 
come sufficiently mature. 


Although the general exists in the concrete, in propor- 
tion as one is mentally immature, one can see the con- 
crete but not the general. As he matures he ought to 
be able to see the general with increasing clearness. 
The readings, therefore, for the ascending scale of 
maturity should increasingly reveal the general. 


Most generalizations should grow up out of the concrete 
experiences; usually slowly. The responsibility of edu- 
cation is to provide the conditions of full healthy growth. 
It will not try to manufacture them quickly and artifi- 
cially. 


Where there is fullness and sufficiency of concrete ex- 
periences, generalization can, in part, be left to nature’s 
method of assimilating experiences: One’s memory con- 
tinually drops out the deciduous concrete details and re- 
tains the general. 


Generalizations will also be arrived at through analyz- 


43. 


44, 


45. 


46. 


47. 


48. 


49, 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 113 


ing the concrete matters and discovering the sequences, 
relationships, common elements, fundamental relation- 
ships, and the like. 


In large measure the generalizations will result from 
proplem-solving. There will be numerous problems for 
developing geographical generalizations; economic prob- 
lems for developing the economic generalizations; civic 
problems for developing the civic generalizations; and 
similarly, numerous problems wherever generalizations 
are to be arrived at. 


After generalizations are derived, they will be employed 
so frequently in the interpretation of further social 
phenomena as to fix them sufficiently in memory. 


There should be much discussion of social matters. 
This should not be a mere memoriter and thoughtless 
question-and-answer reproduction of verbal textbook 
facts; it should be group problem-solving by way of ar- 
riving at generalizations and principles; and by way of 
applying previously formulated principles to new situa- 
tions. 


General principles cannot be Jearned from mere verbal 
presentation of them in their general form prior to the 
concrete experiences. Merely to memorize such verbal 
statements of principles is not to memorize the princi- 
ples themselves. ‘They must develop out of experi- 
ences. 


As general principles are formulated out of the concrete 
experiences, general readings in principles of economics 
can be of assistance in organizing economic generaliza- 
tions; in principles of political science, for generaliza- 
tions in that field; in principles of geography, for gener- 
alizing the geographic matters; and the like. Such 
books, however, must be aids, not bases, of study. 


Social education will employ the method of “growth 
through vital experiences” rather than growth through 
systematic memorizing of a moderate quantity of facts. 


The social experiences needed exist upon two leveis: 


114 


‘61. 


52. 


53. 


54. 


55. 


56. 


57. 


58. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(1) the level of intellectual and social play; (2) the level 
of work. 


. Play experiences provide the broad, rich background of 


social understanding, interests, attitudes, sympathies 
and antipathies, likes and dislikes, sense of proportion, 
social vision and perspective, ete. 


Work experiences of civic or economic type are to de- 
velop skill, forcefulness, sense of responsibility, ete., in 
performing the actual civic or economic functions of the 
citizen. 


The background training of the piay-level necessarily 
precedes the specific training of the work-level. This 
does not mean that one will be finished before the other 
begins. The two will run alongside, the one continu- 
ally laying the foundations for the other. 


The foundational or play experiences should be clearly 
distinguished from the functional or work experiences 
in order that each may be made fully and rightly to 
serve its special purposes. 


Power to perform the specific functions of the efficient 
citizen is mainly to be developed by actual functioning 
upon the work level. 


Activities cannot be genuinely upon the work level ex- 
cept as they involve felt sense of responsibility. This 
is possible only where there is actual responsibility. 


On the work-level the tasks are to be performed with all 
possible exactness and thoroughness. 


The social education should be a matter of continuous 
growth through all the years of one’s education; and- 
with the expectation that the growth is to continue af- 
ter one’s schooling is over. 


In the social analyses, the problem-solving, the general- 
izations, and the like, clearness and facility of thinking 
go hand in hand with clearness, accuracy, and facility of 
expression. ‘The teacher of social studies must concern 


59. 


6. 


yf 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 115 


himself with both in order adequately to care for the 
things of his special field. 


Habits of social participation, social observation, gen- 
eral social reading, and discussion of social problems, 
and in general the performance of the citizen’s functions 
should be formed in youth in ways and under conditions 
in which they are expected later to function during 
adulthoed. 


History 


. History as fully and vividly as literature — though not 


in so personal a way — will present reconstructions in 
imagination of the experiences of nations, peoples, in- 
stitutions, and social groups. 


. History for the general training is to reconstruct the 


things and experiences as they were in their living 
forms; not merely to present the fragments that have 
been recovered from the débris of the past. 


. History is to be used primarily as a means of social ex- 


perience: indirect observation of, or vicarious partici- 
pation in, man’s activities in different lands and ages. 


. The concrete historical experiences are not to be con- 


sciously memorized. They are to be lived. A mental 
residuum then grows up which is normal and healthy. 
If the experiences are abundant and vivid, memories 
will be normally abundant. 


. The primary experience in using history for general 


training is reading it — abundantly — with enjoyment 
— under normal reading conditions. 


The experiences demand an abundance of historical 
reading materials. 


Historical readings should always be accompanied by a 
sufficiency of good maps. 


. Pictures should be abundantly employed for develop- 


ing the basic imagery required for historical reconstruc- 
tions. 


116 
9 


10. 


ye 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


a7. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


The historical reconstructions will reveal the operative 
factors of every kind: geographical, biological, psycho- 
logical, economic, political, and religious. 


The matters revealed by history will be studied for the 
purpose of discerning the forces and influences at work 
in the world, and the laws governing the action of those 
forces. ‘The general is to be discovered within the con- 
crete. 


The history should enable one to see current events not 
as things new but only as the most recent surface mani- 
festations of forces and influences which have been oper- 
ative throughout man’s history. 


A knowledge of general historical movements will re- 
main in memory as the deciduous concrete facts sink 
naturally into oblivion; especially if the discussion and 
problem-solving has assisted in making clear the gen- 
eral movements. 


The generalizations of history must grow up gradually 
out of concrete, historical experiences. They cannot be 
given over merely by formulating them in verbal terms, 
and instilling these verbalities into the minds of the stu- 
dents. In outward form such generalizations appear 
to be genuine; but in the mind of the learner they lack 
the actual substance. 


It is a matter of relative indifference whether one re- 
members this or that specific fact of history; but that he 
have the intellectual and social growth which results 
from having abundantly relived human history is not 
a matter of indifference. 


The growth in historical-mindedness should be contin- 
uous throughout all the years of one’s education. 


The ability to do elementary historical research is not a 
valid objective for public school students. 


The technique of training the professional historian 
must not be permitted to influence the technique of 
using history for the purposes of general education. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 117 


GEOGRAPHY 


. One will best learn the lands of the earth by living in 
those lands. Since this is usually impossible, one will 
employ the nearest substitute, namely, living vica- 
riously in these lands by reading the history, literature, 
travels, current news and whatever else adequately re- 
constructs life and experience in the several regions of 
the earth. 


. One will learn the peoples of the earth, their customs, 
institutions, industries, commerce, opportunities, limi- 
tations, standard of living, and the rest, by indirectly 
observing and by vicariously living the lives of these 
various peoples in concrete reading. 


. The way to learn the stage upon which the human 
drama is enacted is to view the drama with an under- 
standing of all of the controlling and conditioning fac- 
tors. The stage will be sufficiently seen; and under cir- 
stances that give it meaning. If any portion needs to 
be seen specially clearly and known specially well, it is 
all the more necessary, that it be seen in relation to the 
drama. 


. Place geography is best mastered by abundantly seeing 
it as the place of human action. 


. Matters of topography, climate, natural resources, and 
the like, will be learned through viewing them as stage, 
background, opportunity, and limitation of human ac- 
tion. 


. Rightly to see and to know the geographic forces, influ- 
ences, and controls that are operative in human affairs, 
one must see them in full operation in human affairs. 
As history, literature, and travels reconstruct human 
experiences, they reveal the geographic controls in 
operation. 


. For the most part, the geographic training will be cared 
for as a factor in the general social training; not as a sep- 
arate study. 


118 


10. 


UY: 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


. A certain amount of earth-study will also be included in 


the physical science. 


. All historical and travel readings — and frequently lit- 


erature — should be accompanied by adequate series of 
maps and pictures. 


Individuals can sufficiently master maps through the 
process of using them. 


Pictures should be abundantly used by way of giving 
one the basic imagery necessary for geographical recon- 
structions. 


The geographical background of human experience is 
not a thing to be consciously memorized in its details 
any more than the stage at the theater is to be memo- 
rized. It isa thing to be experienced, along with the ac- 
tion. Geography is, therefore, not a study to be memo- 
rized. Maps are not to be memorized. Exports and 
imports are not to be memorized. Simply, experiences 
are to be so abundant and vivid that the necessary un- 
derstanding grows up without one’s having to memo- 
rize the things. What belongs to memory will grow up 
in the memory; what does not belong there will drop 
out normally as deciduous and non-essential. To live 
abundantly in the world will give one the basic knowl- 
edge which one needs of the world. 


The social studies will take adequate care of the geo- 
graphic generalizations. In large measure, these will 
result from an abundant problem-solving on the basis of 
the concrete experiences. The problem-solving will 
probably be the major feature of geographic class-work 
or discussion. 


Geographical generalizations cannot be learned through 
merely memorizing abstract verbal presentations of 
them. They are normally learned only when crystal- 
lized out of concrete experiences. 


After one has generalized one’s concrete experiences, at 
least in part, one is in a position to use with profit a gen- 
eral treatise on the principles of geography. It can be 


16. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 119 


an aid in organizing what one already knows. It will 
not require much time. 


The geographical experiences and training should con- 
tinue throughout all the years of one’s general educa- 
tion, since it is an integral portion of one’s general social 
training. 


ECONOMICS 


Full economic understanding is needed by all men and 
women. It should therefore be a portion of the general 
training of all citizens. 


. The experiences of most groups, territorial or func- 


tional, are not adequately revealed if the economic as- 
pects are not made clear. The abundant concrete 
readings should clearly reveal the economic aspects of 
group life. 


. The concrete observations and readings of the general 


social studies will provide the basic experiences for eco- 
nomic analyses and generalizations. Experiences which 
care for the economic as one of the factors will therefore 
be continuous from primary school to the end of one’s 
general education. 


. To be rightly seen, the economic factors need to be seen 


an situ within the concrete situations. 


. After pupils have had concrete economic experiences, 


they can both generalize for themselves, and under- 
stand the generalizations of others. 


. Largely through economic problem-solving, the stu- 


dents will arrive at the economic principles. 


. The generalizations of an economic nature should 


slowly grow up out of fundamental concrete experiences; 
they should not be grafted on in merely verbal ways. 
Such grafts bear only the semblance of generalizations. 
They lack the substance. 


. The generalizing of economic matters of simple type 


should begin early; and through the later grades of jun- 


120 


10. 


11. 


12. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


ior high school, senior high school, and college it should 
advance to generalizations that are ever more compre- 
hensive and fundamental. This growth should be con- 
tinuous through all these years; not a matter of a short 
concentrated course in “‘economics.” 


. For the most part, the economic training will be taken 


care of as a factor in the general social training, not as a 
separate study. 


Books that present in the abstract the “principles” of 
economics cannot be the bases of the training. They 
can be serviceable for organizing one’s generalizations, 
after one has abundantly seen, for himself, the general 
within the concrete. 


Much of the concrete economic material should be quan- 
titatively exact and in mathematical terms. Such ma- 
terial is to be used for analyses, problem-solving, and 
generalizations. It is not to be “learned.” 


Economic surveys, together with the fact-organization 
and presentation, done by the students for responsible 
community purposes, should provide much experience 
on the work level. 


Civics 


. Citizenship training should be continuous and uninter- 


rupted throughout the entire period of general or un- 
specialized education. 


. The basic civic training is the concrete experience of liv- 


ing, or indirectly reliving, human experiences in which 
the forces of social codrdination and control are in full 
operation. Here he can see them ?n situ, and can know 
them for what they are. 


. After pupils have had concrete experiences in the field 


of political forces, relations, and control, then they can 
both generalize for themselves, and understand the 
generalizations of others. 


. The principles of political science needed by citizens in 


general should grow up through all the years of one’s ed- 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 121 


ucation. Every year of junior and senior high school 
and junior college should provide its annual increment 
of growth. 


. On the level of the concrete experience, the civic train- 


ing will be taken care of as a factor of the general so- 
cial training; not as a separate study. 


. Late in the training, after students are familiar with 


civic matters in the concrete, they should probably 
have an intensive summarization course in the princi- 
ples of social organization and control. 


. Very much of the concrete civic material should be in 


exact mathematical terms. Such materials are to be 
used for analyses, problem-solving, and generalizations. 


. Civics is primarily to train the lay citizen for the per- 


formance of his lay duties. It is not primarily to tell 
him what senators or governors should be or do, or 
what should be done by the police or streets depart- 
ments; but rather what he himself should do. 


. The ability to do civic thinking and to arrive at civic 


judgments is to be developed in youth in ways and un- 
der conditions as nearly like those in which it later is to 
function during adulthood as practicable. 


The ability to act in civic ways is to be developed in 
youth by acting in ways desired — except for a few 
effectuation functions, such as voting, paying taxes, 
doing jury service, etc., which clearly immature youths 
cannot be trusted to perform. 


Pupils should do part-time work along with adults in 
performing tasks involved in directorial and inspecto- 
rial civic functions. 


Civic responsibility rests primarily upon adults, and 
not upon boys and girls. If the latter are to bear gen- 
uine civic responsibility, then adults must share certain 
of their civic responsibilities in sufficient measure for 
training purposes. 


The primordial civic function is the development and 


122 


14. 


15. 


16. 


1 Wy 


18. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


maintenance of right public opinion. To gather, or- 
ganize, and present facts needed for developing, main- 
taining and focusing public opinion, is to discharge fun- 
damental responsibilities. ‘The tasks involved relative 
to any social agency are numerous; and the agencies 
are numerous. Labors for civic training which involve 
actual responsibility are therefore inexhaustible in 
amount. 


So long as adults are so ignorant of, and unskillful in, 
their directorial functioning, they cannot be expected to 
sanction any full directorial functioning on the part of 
the juvenile population as a part of the latter’s training. 
Education must proceed slowly and carefully. 


So long as citizens themselves scarcely have heard of 
their inspectorial responsibilities and have so little 
knowledge and skill in inspectorial technique, it cannot 
be expected that they will sanction inspectorial effi- 
ciency on the part of the juvenile population. Educa- 
tion must proceed slowly and carefully. 


Much of civic education relates to things which are con- 
troversially about as explosive and dangerous as mat- 
ters of dogmatic religion. It is indispensable, there- 
fore, that school and community be intimately associ- 
ated in the formulation of plans and in the codperative 
performance of the labors themselves. There is no 
other field of training in which it is so necessary that 
the schools should be continuously, week by week, se- 
curing their commission from the community as to what 


they should do. 


Civic education on the level of generalization and prac- 
tical performance should be in the hands of broad- 
minded men and women who are continuously in vital 
contact with the community — particularly its re- 
sponsible leaders — and who possess the complete con- 
fidence of the community. It is not a field for the 
blundering novice or dilettante. 


The school, as a specialized arm of the community, 
should function in civic training only as commissioned 


19. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 123 


by thecommunity. Where it says that nothing is to be 
done, then nothing is to be done. Until reversed by it- 
self, or by the wider community of which it is a part, its 
decision must stand. 


Much of the civic training immediately needed by the 
generation now in our public schools cannot be given 
in our public schools. Communities are yet too much 
divided in their judgments as to what this training 
should be, and therefore are not yet ready to commis- 
sion the schools to do the work. 


OccuPATIONS 


. The social studies should give one a proportioned un- 


derstanding of the occupational world as a whole; and 
of each important occupational field in itself and in its 
relationships. 


. The most effective method of learning the nature of an 


occupation is practical participation in its labors. For 
general education, this is only occasionally possible. 


. The second-best method is direct observation. This 


is possible in the case of many occupations, and should 
be employed in such cases. It is limited, however, to 
the immediate; and to those occupations that are not 
hidden behind closed gates. 


. Some knowledge of the materials, tools, and processes 


involved in certain occupations can be got from short- 
unit “exploratory” courses in school shops, kitchens, 
commercial rooms, and the like. The number of oc- 
cupations that lend themselves to this mode of treat- 
ment is limited; the amount of available time is limited; 
and the school shop is usually but a play-shop. Because 
of these limitations, the method cannot be so used as to 
give any great amount of occupational insight. It 
should, however, be used as fully as practicable; es- 
pecially where it trains at the same time for unspecial- 
ized practical arts. 


. For the concrete occupational experiences, as with 


most of the social experiences, indirect methods of 
reading and pictures must be largely employed. 


1% 


10. 


wT 


12. 


18. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


A vivid story which reconstructs human experience 
within an occupation, especially when well illustrated, 
is an effective means of indirect observation or vicari- 
ous participation in the occupation. 


. Concrete biographical stories of men and women who 


have been concerned in making the inventions and 
otherwise developing an occupational field constitute 
excellent concrete materials for reconstructing the 
occupational experiences. 


. A vivid concrete history of an occupation permits one 


to enter indirectly into its labors. Histories should be 
abundantly employed. 


. For revealing the details of occupational procedures, 


the motion picture permits accessibility to innumerable 
things to which one does not have direct observational 
access. 


The revelation of the occupational groups is a major 
responsibility of the social studies. A separate study 
of occupations for purposes of occupational counseling 
and guidance is, or ought to be, unnecessary. 


Without a vision of and feeling for the occupation it- 
self, all textbook statements relative to qualifications, 
preparation, social service, opportunities, advantages, 
disadvantages, etc., are meaningless to the pupil. 


Rightly to appreciate the desirability of an occupation, 
and the opportunities it offers, one must understand its 
economic, geographical, civic, and social relationships 
and possibilities. 


It is obvious that a knowledge of occupations sufficient 
for occupational choices by the student himself is not 
possible until rather late in the high-school period. 
Something, however, can be done all along the line. 


LITERATURE AND GENERAL READING 


Literature is a revealer of human experiences. It should 
be abundantly used as a means of social training. It is sep- 
arately presented in this volume because of administrative 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 125 


considerations. In time it may find itself in the department 
of social training. Guiding principles have already been 
presented. 


MENTAL TRAITS AND TENDENCIES 


1. The forces which operate within man himself are the 
forces which operate the social world. If man is to con- 
trol them he must first see them; and see them in oper- 
ation. All normal-minded men and women need a full 
vision of man’s mental traits and tendencies. 


2. How man is inclined to act under different conditions 
is revealed by observing the ways he has acted under 
those conditions. ‘The facts of history, biography, cur- 
rent news, the type-reconstructions of veracious litera- 
ture, and the observations of human action in commu- 
nity life are the principal objective data of psychology. 


3. The general principles of psychology are to be seen 
within the specific actions and reactions of men. In 
other words, they are to be seen in community observa- 
tion, in history, literature, and the like. 


4. Human action is not adequately seen if one does not 
see the inner forces which impel the action, and which 
are operating within the action. 


5. The experiences of individuals or social groups, terri- 
torial or functional, are not adequately revealed if they 
do not show the psychological forces which are operat- 
ing. 


6. To be rightly seen, the psychological forces need to be 
seen 2m situ within the innumerable concrete situations 
where the forces are in operation. 


7. After the pupils have had concrete experiences with 
human action and reaction, then they can both gener- 
alize for themselves and understand the generalizations 
formulated by others. 


8. Largely through psychological problem-solving, stu- 
dents will develop their understanding of the psycho- 
logical tendencies and forces. 


126 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


9. The psychologic understanding should slowly grow 
up out of the abundance of concrete experiences. 
There should be no attempt to teach the abstract 
principles of psychology separate from these concrete 
experiences. 


10. Books which present in the abstract the principles of 
psychology can be of service for organizing one’s gen- 
eralizations after one has abundantly seen for one’s 
self the general within the concrete. 


Purizt ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 

Social training must aim at far more than infor- 
mation. It should aim just as fully at awakened inter- 
ests, beneficent social attitudes and valuations, sense of 
social responsibility, an awakened social conscience, 
willingness to exert one’s self in promoting the general 
welfare, powers of self-direction and self-control in the 
performance of civic and social activities, and other 
similar matters. Some of these are more fundamental 
than information and are prerequisite to any proper 
mastery or use of information. 

It is obvious that social education must involve more 
than the mastery of the informational content of text- 
books and collateral readings. Some of the needed 
fundamental abilities and personal qualities call for the 
experiences of actual living. The program of pupil 
activities and experiences therefore must go much be- 
yond the usual textbook study and lesson-hearing of 
the academic classrooms. It seems it should be a 
program of experiences primarily; with studies for 
accessory purposes, for organizing, and for generaliz- 
ing one’s experiences. 


THE SOCIAL STUDIES 127 


Our profession is not yet prepared to say what these 
experiences and activities ought to be. The following, 
however, are probably some of them: 


1. 


10. 


11. 


12. 


The pupil will observe the affairs of the community 
life as widely and as abundantly as practicable. 


. He will participate as abundantly as practicable in the 


diversified social activities of the community life. 


. He will view mankind, human affairs, and the back- 


ground of those affairs, indirectly, and participate vica- 
riously through the reading of history, biography, 
memoirs, literature, travels, geography, and current 
news. These readings will relate to all lands, peoples, 
and ages. 


. He will view the workings of the physical forces which 


influence and condition man’s activities. 


. He will view the workings of the biological forces 


which influence and operate within human society. 


. He will view the workings of the psychological ten- 


dencies and forces which influence, condition, and 
operate within human affairs. 


. He will view the economic forces which operate within 


human society. 


. He will view the political, civic, and other sociological 


forces, tendencies, and influences which operate within 
human society. 


. He will view the religious tendencies and influences 


which operate within human society. 


He will solve innumerable social problems by way of 
discovering the nature, influence, and workings of the 
various forces which operate in man’s affairs. 


He will discuss social phenomena and problems with 
his associates. 


As he observes man’s activities in the concrete, directly 
and indirectly, in increasing measure as he grows more 


128 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


mature, he will look beneath the superficial social 
phenomena to the deep-lying social forces, tendencies, 
influences, and movements. 


13. He will participate, according to his degree of maturity, 
in the activities of the community life which are de- 
signed for the maintenance of a proper type of public 
opinion. 

14. He will participate, according to his degree of matur- 
ity, in the inspectorial activities of the community life. 


15. He will perform unspecialized activities of many kinds 
with a view to the promotion of the general community 
welfare. 


16. He will participate in making surveys of community 
conditions; and in the organization, presentation, and 
interpretation of the facts. 


17. He will, etce., ete. 


Each curriculum-making group, looking to the ob- 
Jectives and guided by the accepted general principles 
and assumptions, should make its list of types of pupil 
activity and experience as complete as practicable. It 
should be sufficiently detailed to make clear the nature 
of the activities. But on the other hand it should not 
go so fully into detail as to become cumbersome as 
an instrument of guidance. Each curriculum-making 
group should formulate its own series. 

The final step then is to take these general types of 
pupil activity and experience and to reduce them to the 
specifics which are appropriate for the activities and 
experiences of four-year-old pupils, five-year-olds, six- 
year-olds, and so on through each of the grade levels 
to the end of general education. These detailed 
activities then will make up the completed curriculum. 


CHAPTER VIII 
NATURAL SCIENCE 


It seems that science functions in the community life, 
and ought to function more actively and abundantly, 
in two major ways: 

A. It functions as guidance of practical activities of 
many kinds: 

1. We live in the midst of a bewildering maze of 
mechanical appliances. Wisely to use them does not 
require that the consumer be familiar with the science 
of the manufacturer. But for operation, adjustment, 
and maintenance of them, and for protection against 
dangers, he needs an increasing amount of “consumer” 
science. | 

2. In the current community life, one is called upon 
to deal with innumerable chemical creations; and the 
number is rapidly increasing. Each has its special 
work to do because of its special characteristics. Ifthe 
consumer is to use them so as to secure all of their 
values and to avoid wastes and dangers, he needs a 
generous knowledge of them, their properties, their 
effects, and the conditions of their action. 

3. In matters of health care, men and women are 
concerned with the chemistry, physics, bacteriology, 
and biology of the body; the chemistry of foods, drink, 
and of the air one breathes; with the physics of light, 
color, and electricity in their relations to the organism; 


130 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


with the physics of climate and the physiology of 
climatic influences; with the bacteriology of health and 
disease; with the physiology of digestion, exercise, 
sleep, emotion, and the like; with the chemistry of 
dangerous agents to which he may be exposed; and 
numerous other matters. In the main, health guidance 
is to be self-guidance. Self-guidance in this field 
means at bottom the direction of one’s judgment by 
science. 

4. As citizens, men and women are concerned with 
the city water supply system, street lighting, road and 
street construction, sewer system, the physical plant of 
public school system, ventilation of public buildings, 
bridge construction, street construction, tunnels and 
subways, gas supply, telephone system, milk supply, 
ice supply, and numerous other matters involved in the 
civic promotion of the general welfare. The detailed 
activities of constructing, maintaining, and operating 
these various things will in the main be performed by 
specialized vocational groups. They need, however, 
to be supervised in civic ways by the citizens in order 
that the plants be properly maintained and the proc- 
esses be kept efficient. With an ignorant citizenry, the 
specialists in charge tend to become slack, inefficient, 
and parasitic. Citizens need to be able to judge proc- 
esses and results in order wisely through public opinion 
to supervise the agencies. Further, the consumers are 
called upon to supply these agencies with the conditions 
of effective service. A citizenry that is well informed 
as to the physical needs is prepared to see that the 


NATURAL SCIENCE 131 


agencies are properly supplied. They can judge of 
what constitutes sufficiency and insufficiency and can 
act rationally on the basis of judgment. These mat- 
ters require that citizens have considerable information 
relative to the physical factors. Much of this infor- 
mation must be the science that is involved. 

5. The citizen is concerned in many activities which 
are in part self-directed and in part codperative. A 
good example is insect destruction and bird protection 
— two things which belong together because the birds 
are the best insect-destroyers. In this matter the in- 
dividual alone can do relatively little. Public agencies, 
as the United States Department of Agriculture, un- 
aided, can do relatively little. It is when there is 
cobperative effort on the part of individual citizens 
together with codrdinating effort on the part of the 
general agency that most can be accomplished. We ex- 
pect the activities of the central agency to be directed 
by science, but if the activities of the individual citi- 
zen are to be continuous, consistent, and effective, 
they too must be directed by his knowledge of science. 
The situation demands a broad biological vision of the 
whole field of insect ravages and bird life. Other exam- 
ples of similar character are: the conservation of forests 
and tree life in general; elimination and prevention of 
weeds; eradication of noxious fungi, and micro-organ- 
isms; community sanitation; and civic beautification. 

6. Then there are the unspecialized practical ac- 
tivities of premises and garden. Wise care of these 
requires the guidance of science from fields of physics, 


132 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


chemistry, plant science, entomology, bacteriology, 
climatology, and earth-science. 

These are examples. We need not enumerate 
further. It is evident that in a scientific age citizens as 
consumers should use science rather abundantly for 
guidance. They have little need of investigative 
technique if they can come at the science sufficiently 
without it. It should be noticed that science as 
guidance is a matter of continuously seeing things and 
relations clearly and accurately. 

B. Science functions as a mode of lwing. It is a 
type of intellectual human activity. It is the common 
human experience of looking at surrounding realities, 
It is seeing one’s environment. It is the sort of thing 
any alert man is continually doing, and feels that he 
must do, whether he has ever had any schooling or not. 
Without schooling it may be very superficial. But 
the activity is one of the most fundamental charac- 
teristics of man. 

But one’s immediate, unaided, instinct-impelled 
seeing is limited in range and in depth. ‘To see widely 
one needs to draw upon the vision of others. To see 
the hidden and remote things, and the intangible rela- 
tions, one needs to use the vision of those who have 
seen. Science reports in language the composite and 
verified vision of the many who have seen. It permits 
all equally to see. 

Science is but seeing in a wide and accurate way the 
things to which instinct in a narrower more superficial 
way is compelling us ever to be giving our attention. 


NATURAL SCIENCE 133 


Ordinarily we think of a science as a body of sys- 
tematized information laid out and arranged, ready for 
placing in mental storage. The specialized scientist 
tends, as a matter of vocational habit, to look at it 
primarily as a refined system of investigative technique 
which results in a body of living and changing knowl- 
edge. It seems, however, that general education 
will find rather more fruitful the conception that 
science is activity; that it is but doimg what all men 
and women naturally do anyway — only doing it 
better. It seems more profitable to look upon it as 
active and living experience rather than as an em- 
balmed thing ready for the memory vaults. 

Science as normal living is experience on the level of 
intellectual play. It is spontaneously looking at the 
world of reality as a satisfying or enjoyable type of 
experience. It is science for the sake of science — see- 
ing for the joy of the seeing. 

Since man’s life of to-day relates to the whole 
earth and even beyond, his seeing should relate to the 
entire earth, and beyond. Since his affairs relate 
directly and indirectly to all aspects of reality, his 
seeing should be developed for the various aspects of 
reality. It seems therefore that the width and com- 
plexity of the science program should be dictated by 
the width and nature of man’s environment. It calls 
for a balanced amount of all of the sciences. And not 
for specialized technique, but for vision. 

Those who condemn pure science as useless, except 
for those items employed for practical guidance, ap- 


134 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


pear to lose sight of the incomparable value of a vision 
of the whole range of reality for seeing any of the parts 
in an intensive way. None of the details of knowledge 
of one’s environment can be so useful as this com- 
prehensive vision. 

Yet over against this pure science on the play or 
foundational level, there is the applied science on the 
functional or work-level. On this latter level, science 
is being consciously put to work. On this level, one 
makes special effort to be exact in viewing the factors 
involved for the sake of accuracy of control. This 
applied science, it seems, should be developed as fully 
as practicable in connection with all practical activi- 
ties which require it for guidance. 

On the play-level, science is living. On the work- 
level, science is guidance. ‘The one prepares for the 
other. 

In developing and maintaining a vision of one’s en- 
vironment, one will do a number of things; but there 
are two general types of experience which are funda- 
mental: 

1. Direct observation. In the laboratory and field 
observations of present-day science studies, this type 
of experience is recognized. Frequently, however, the 
purpose of it in terms of general education for com- 
munity life is greatly obscured; and further it is clearly 
much undeveloped as it relates to many aspects of one’s 
environment. The usual program is specialized and in- 
complete. It aims too much at training the specialist 
rather than the man. 


NATURAL SCIENCE 135 


2. Indirect observation. For general education in 
this field, one of the major instruments of seeing must 
be language. ‘There should be an abundance of re- 
vealing readings. ‘These enable the reader to see with 
the eyes of those who have seen most widely, deeply, 
and clearly. Naturally one must acquire most of one’s 
basic imagery through direct contacts and through 
pictures. But having this, there can be no question 
but that for the layman, reading must be a major 
method of exploring the various fields of science. 

Because of the intensive use of laboratory methods 
by the scientific investigator, a thing wholly neces- 
sary for his specialized vocation, there has grown up a 
tradition which over-emphasizes for the layman the 
direct exact observations of the laboratory, and un- 
der-emphasizes the indirect observations of reading. 
Science for the “consumer,” however, is a very differ- 
ent thing from science for the specialized investigator. 

Along with the readings, there should be an abun- 
dance of pictures. The concrete imagery of things can- 
not be developed by words alone. While direct ob- 
servation is best for giving this imagery, much of the 
time this is impossible. Most of the time, for the sys- 
tematized processes of the school, it is uneconomical. 
Pictures provide a good substitute. They can present 
the visual imagery of all visible science phenomena. 
The motion-picture can add the imagery of motion and 
change. Along with pictures perhaps one ought also 
to mention the need of diagrams which are specially 
useful for picturing types and relations rather than in- 


136 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


dividual forms. They are specially helpful in assist- 
ing one to visualize the more general matters. 

Employing the foregoing conception of science in 
human life and in education, we present for suggestion 
only the following illustrative series of general prin- 
ciples and assumptions: 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


1. The first task of the curriculum-maker is to discover 
what science thinking should be done by men and 
women. 


2. Both in their practical life and in their more human- 
istic experiences, all normal persons should do much of 
their thinking in terms of science; and all of their think- 
ing with that intellectual perspective and proportion 
which can be provided only by science. 


8. For right appreciations of the marvelous world in 
which one dwells, one needs that width of vision and 
depth of insight that can come only from viewing un- 
derstandingly the things and forces of which it is made. 


4. In formulating the program of general training, the de- 
partment of science should lay special emphasis upon 
its values for humanistic and religious vision and in- 
spiration. 


5. The intellectual and emotional expansion to be pro- 
duced through the use of science is needed by all men 
and women. It should therefore be a portion of the 
curriculum program of each normal-minded man and 
woman. 


6. Science in the general training should give a balanced 
vision and understanding of the realities, near and re- 
mote, with which man is surrounded. All of the 
sciences should therefore find their proper place in the 
training of each individual. 


7. The study of a specialized science or two, to the exclu- 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


NATURAL SCIENCE 187 


sion of the others, especially when the emphasis is on 
technique, does not accomplish the purposes. 


. In formulating the general training curriculum in 


science, no upper nor outer limit can be fixed. Each 
person should arrive at normality of intellectual expan- 
sion. The normal intellectual stature of different in- 
dividuals differs very greatly. The levels achieved 
will therefore differ greatly for the several ability- 
groups. But for all, the training should presuppose 
fullness of growth according to possibility. 


. The diagnostic method of discovering shortcomings or 


deficiencies in man’s thinking and outward action due 
to insufficient science interests, attitudes, or under- 
standing will be employed in finding those portions or 
aspects of science to be emphasized in the curriculum. 


The science training should aim at developing lifelong 
interests, attitudes, appreciations, and mental alertness 
in the presence of innumerable things, as fully as it aims 
at science knowledge. 


For the general training, extensity of vision, interests, 
and appreciations is more important than the inten- 
sity and accuracy appropriate to the research specialist 
and to the several vocational fields involving applied 
science. 


The science understanding should be a matter of grad- 
ually expanding growth. It is not a matter to be pro- 
duced or developed at any one period or stage in one’s 
development. 


Science interests, vision and understanding are to be 
developed by experiences mainly on the level of in- 
tellectual play. 


Science of functional, applied, or work type will have 
its broad foundations mostly laid on the play-level. 


The science will be of all sorts of legitimate types: 
pure science, applied science, general science, project 
science, popular science, technical science, ete. Full- 


138 


16. 


17. 


18. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


ness of experience requires diversity in the organization 
of the materials. 


The science thinking should grow increasingly quanti- 
tative as the individual matures; but the mathematical 
aspect should be an aspect, and not too much a thing 
for itself. It should also be in those mathematical 
terms in which persons in general will do their mathe- 
matical thinking in the science fields — applied arith- 
metic, in the main, with easily manageable numbers. 


Every aspect of the science is to be introduced, when 
possible, by full, direct, and normal contacts with the 
concrete realities themselves; when not possible, then 
by the best practicable substitutes. 


Contacts with the realities of science are to be of 
normal living type as fully as possible: Using things; 
seeing them used; adjusting and caring for them; 
normal direct observation; explaining things to others; 
analyzing things for one’s intellectual satisfaction, 
especially as problems arise. 


The science work of the school should be kept in close 
touch with the affairs of every-day life, and especially 
with matters that lie nearest to the interests of growing 
individuals. 


One’s out-of-school experiences should be utilized for 
the science training as fully as possible. 


Science phenomena are to be observed where the ob- 
servation can be most adequate and effective. This is 
usually where the things are viewed within their nat- 
ural environment; not at the schools. 


Much science observation should be in the laboratory. 
This is largely of preparatory or accessory type. 


Pictures and charts will be abundantly used for indirect 
observation. 


There should be a sufficiency of interesting readings 
which reveal in a proportioned way the several fields of 
science. 


25. 


26. 


27. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


35. 


NATURAL SCIENCE 139 


After a foundation has been laid in concrete experi- 
ences, reading can be an effective method of presenting 
the concrete realities of science which lie beyond the 
possibility of immediate contacts. 


Reading can reveal the concrete realities the world 
over and during past ages. 


Science readings should be effective for the purposes of 
indirect vision. The portrayal should be concrete, 
clear, and proportioned. It should be interesting. A 
mere didactic presentation of facts is not enough. It 
should be prepared in compliance with all the canons of 
effective literary presentation. 


The histories of technological developments are largely 
science narratives. ‘They should be much used. 


The history of health, disease, and sanitation is largely 
a revelation of science phenomena. The story needs to 
be full, clear, and, above all, interesting. 


The stories of the evolution of the things which make 
up the physical and biological worlds are science narra- 
tives of great value. 


The field of literature is to be drawn upon for science 
readings. 


In numerous cases, the biographies of pioneers in 
scientific exploration and discovery make valuable 
backgrounds for presenting the science which they dis- 
covered. 


The habit of science reading should be formed in ways 
and under conditions in which it should continue to 
function throughout life. 


The observations and readings are to be followed by 
problems which call for analyses, generalizations, and 
the interpretative use of general principles. 


The problems are not questions that call for mere 
reproduction of facts; but rather questions of cause, 
effect, possibility, probability, quantity, relation, 
trend, etc. 


140 
36 


37. 


38. 


39. 


40. 


41. 


42, 


43. 


44. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Problems are to be very numerous, and to constitute a 
gradient that is easy. The latter is to be long, how- 
ever, requiring strenuousness in speed rather than in 
dead pull. Naturally the gradient must differ for dif- 
ferent ability-groups. 


The problems will relate to materials that are presented 
in various ways: field observations, laboratory dem- 
onstrations, pictures, charts, and readings. Each of 
these should be fully utilized for setting problems. 


In most aspects of the training, there should be an 
abundance of mathematical problems involving simple 
numbers for the purpose of making the science factors 
and relationships clear. In every field these problems 
should be carefully graded from simple to complex. 


Facility in thinking in terms of general laws or princi- 
ples is largely to be gained from practice in solving 
problems that require the analytic and interpretative 
use of those laws and principles. 


Right attitudes toward accurate scientific methods, 
and skill in their use, is largely to be developed in be- 
ginners by confronting them with problems which call 
for the use of accurate methods in reaching conclu- 
sions. 


Adequacy of thinking in this field is inseparably re- 
lated to adequacy of expression. There should be 
much careful, well-organized expression by pupils rela- 
tive to science matters. 


In the main the science needed by men and women is 


the same. Here and there, in a few things only, it 
should be different. 


While the science activities of pupils will be directed 
mainly by the science department, many of them will 
arise in other departments: hygiene, practical arts, lit- 
erature, history, economic institutions, civics, geogra- 
phy. 


The science needed for any vocation should be deter- 
mined strictly with a view to that vocation. That por- 


NATURAL SCIENCE 141 


tion of such science which does not enter into the gen- 
eral training sbould then be administered as additional 
and specialized science to those who are to enter that 
vocation; and only tothose. It should be intensive and 
thorough. 


Tue OBJECTIVES 


We tried above to sketch the place of science in 
every-day human life in order to indicate the things to 
be aimed at in science education. Employing the 
point of view therein indicated, one can go through the 
comprehensive lists of human abilities and qualities 
expressed in Chapter II and discover those which 
appear to make a demand for science. The writer 
would make the following selection: 


OBJECTIVES OF NATURAL SCIENCE 


100-139. Ability to deal effectively with the science factors 
involved in physical development and maintenance. 


801-819. Ability to deal with the science factors involved in 
the unspecialized practical activities. 


203. The ability of the citizen to do his individual share in 
performing those social functions for which all citizens 
are equally responsible in the establishment, organiza- 
tion, maintenance, protection, oversight, and control 
of the specialized groups and agencies into which 
society is differentiated for effectiveness of action. 
(Refers to the citizen’s relation to matters where knowl- 
edge of science is necessary for participation in public 
opinion: city water supply systems, street lighting, 
street and road construction, sewer system, ventila- 
tion of public buildings, bridge construction, fire pro- 
tection, tunnels and subways, gas supply, ice supply, 
and other similar matters.) 


401. Ability, disposition, and habit of diversified observa- 


142 


402, 


410. 


411. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


tion of men, things and affairs as an enjoyable and 
fruitful leisure occupation. 


Ability, disposition, and habit of abundant and diver- 
sified reading as a means of enjoyable and fruitful in- 
direct observation of men, things, and affairs; of vicarious 
participation in those affairs; and of entering into the 
thoughts and moods of others. 


Ability, disposition, and habit of taking up occasion- 
ally the systematic study of some new thing; and of ex- 
ploring untried fields of human experience. 


A disposition toward experimentation, exploration, dis- 
covery, and invention in those fields of one’s activities 
and interests which permit initiative. 


. A proportioned intellect apprehension, such as one’s 


natural capacities will permit, of the realities which 
make up the world of man’s life: 


(a) Man; human nature; diversities of human nature. 


(b) Man’s activities and affairs in their diverse 
fields and forms. 

(e) The specialized or functional groups, — eco- 
nomic, political, religious, and the like — together 
with their special situations, activities, duties, 

(f) Man’s geographical habitat. 

(g) The development of man and of his nature, 
habitat, institutions, manners and customs, 
specialized groupings, etc., as revealed in biology 
and history. 

(h) The world of plant life. 

(7) The world of animal life. 

(j) The world of chemical phenomena. 

(k) The world of physical phenomena. 

(1) The geological world. 

(m) The astronomical world. 

(0) The world of sound and music. 

(q) The world of form, color, visual art. 

(r) Man’s inventions and creations. 


NATURAL SCIENCE 143 


502. Ability effectively to perform the mental activities in- 
volved in the proper exercise of the many specific func- 
tions which one should perform. 


(1l-a) Knowledge of the things involved. Command 
over the science required in the efficient exer- 
cise of the ability, — both the general or 
background science and the specific applied 
science. 

(12-a) Interest in and right attitudes toward the 
science which should always guide planning 
and execution. 

(13-a) Disposition to follow the dictates of science 
both in planning and in execution. 

(14-a) Confidence in the guidance of science. Au- 
tomatic habit of turning to science when 
seeking guidance. 


602. Ability to see one’s environment, the near and the far, 
the personal and the impersonal, sub specie wternitatis, 
as a vast and restless sea of forces and phenomena, in- 
finite in extent, subtlety, and complexity. Ability to 
see and realize one’s interrelatedness with and within 
this boundless environment. (The vision provided by 
science — physical, biological, psychological, social.) 


Pupit ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 


The pupil activities and experiences necessary for 
developing “consumer” science should probably be 
quite different in many respects from those necessary 
for developing scientific investigators and producers of 
science. They must look to the awakening of interests, 
the development of proper attitudes, and appreciations, 
the formation of habits of diversified observation of 
science phenomena of all kinds within one’s enviren- 
ment, a proportioned rather than a specialized vision 
of man and his environment, powers of practical 


144 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


judgment in dealing with innumerable things, as well 
as such wealth of information as may be normal to the 
human mind. Some of these things call for experi- 
ences which are not commonly employed in the train- 
ing-for-investigator type of science teaching which is 
now commonly used for training the “consumer.” 

The curriculum-making group should look carefully 
to the objectives and basic assumption which it has it- 
self adopted and in the light of these formulate a 
definite statement of the general types of pupil 
activities and experiences which it intends to employ in 
working out the details of the science curriculum. The 
following will illustrate the kind of statements which 
the group should formulate for itself: 

1. The pupil will observe the natural phenomena of all 


kinds within his immediate environment, and as 
widely as practicable. 


2, At the school he will observe natural phenomena in 
laboratories, workshops, museums and the like. 


8. He will read well-illustrated books which enable him to 
observe indirectly natural phenomena in all important 
science fields, and the world over. ‘These readings 
should be relatively abundant. 


4. He will perform practical activities in matters of health, 
unspecialized practical arts, unspecialized civie activ- 
ities, and play activities which involve the material 
forces and phenomena of science. 


5. He will view, figuratively speaking, the deep-lying 
forces which manifest themselves within the immediate 
and concrete phenomena. 


6. On the basis of an abundance of observations of the con- 
crete he will generalize his observations by way of ar- 
riving at the laws or principles of science. 


10. 


it 


NATURAL SCIENCE 145 


. He will solve an abundance of science problems by way 


of deepening his insight into the forces, relations, prin- 
ciples, and diversity of manifestation. 


. He will discuss his science experiences with his associ- 


ates. 


. He will frequently present reports of his observations, 


direct and indirect, in interesting fields of science. 


He will actively participate, according to his degree of 
maturity, in the consideration of community problems 
of many kinds which involve the control of the forces or 
influences treated in science. 


He will, etc., etc. 


After the curriculum-making group has revised this 
list to make it agree with their professional judgment, 
they will probably extend it considerably; and then use 
it for guidance in selecting the specific science activities 


and experiences for each of the several grades from the 
primary level to the end of the junior college. 


CHAPTER IX 
MATHEMATICS 


Tue quantitative aspect of things is universal. Every- 
thing that has existence exists in some measure, degree, 
quantity, or number. ‘To see things with exactness, 
one must among other things see them quantitatively. 
To deal with them practically, one is concerned with 
quantities, numbers, measures. 

This is shown by the simplest matters of every-day 
life. Rightly to see one’s income and expenditures, 
one must see them in exact quantitative terms. In 
dealing with them practically in promoting one’s in- 
come, in buying and selling, or in proportioning one’s 
expenditures in some rational way, one is concerned 
with handling specific amounts. All thought, planning, 
judgment, decisions are in quantitative terms. In the 
same way, in dealing with the time of day, the longer 
time periods of the calendar, railroad time-tables, costs, 
distances, motor car mileage, the construction of even 
the simplest things, etc., the quantitative elements are 
always vital factors. 

At the other extreme, if one would view things im- 
personal, large, remote, as in fields of science, again one 
must see them in their quantitative aspects. For 
example, if one would look out on the solar system, 
he must note its age, view the long period of its evo- 
lution, note its distances and its immensity, and the 
speeds of movement through space. Except as he sees 


MATHEMATICS 147 


these matters in quantitative terms, he scarcely sees 
them at all. In viewing the constitution of matter, 
forces, mechanical relations, chemical reactions, and 
whatever else is involved in fields of physical science 
and of technology, one hardly sees the things except as 
one sees them quantitatively. 

In viewing or dealing with school finance, for ex- 
ample, as a civic matter, one is concerned with property 
valuations, budgets, tax-rates, bonded indebtedness, 
rates of interest, sinking funds, bonding limits, taxation 
limits, salaries, salary schedules, unit-costs, ratio of 
school costs to other municipal expenditures, ratio of 
teaching costs to overhead, variations of unit-costs 
with variation in size of classes, and a large number of 
other things. None of these can be intelligible except 
as they are expressed in terms of magnitude. One’s 
vision of school finance must be quantitative or it does 
not exist. 

In viewing for civic purposes the city gas supply, one 
is concerned with the size of the plant, its cost, the total 
daily production, quantity of coal, oil, and other 
materials employed, quantities of gas produced per 
unit of materials used, quantity of coke, ammonia, tar, 
and other by-products produced, values of the product, 
costs of labor, service rates, measuring the product as 
it is distributed, capacity of mains and service pipes, 
and scores of other matters, which must be expressed in 
terms of quantity or they are not expressed at all. 
Civic or economic vision here must be quantitative or 
it does not exist. 


148 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


It ought not to be necessary to illustrate this matter 
so copiously; but the usual professional attitude toward 
mathematics makes it practically impossible for us to 
see mathematics as a human and community function 
except as we illustrate it abundantly. For the sake of 
condensing our illustrations, we here present a con- 
siderable list of things which the individual views 
quantitatively whenever he views them adequately: 


Road-building. 

Railroads. 

Merchant marine. 

Postal system. 

Express companies. 

Street railways. 

Electric light and power. 

The telephone. 

The telegraph. 

Banks and banking. 

Stock exchanges. 

Park systems. 

City water supply department. 

Garbage disposal department. 

Fire protection service. 

Police department. 

Life-saving and lighthouse service. 

Institutions for the care of the incapacitated. 
Insurance. 

Taxes. 

Investment. 

Agricultural production. 

Wheat production, distribution, and consumption. 
Sugar production, distribution, and consumption. 
Coai production, distribution, and consumption. 
Steel. 

Cement production, distribution, and consumption. 
Building. 

Automobile production, distribution, and consumption. 


MATHEMATICS 149 


Commerce. 

Mining. 

Manufacturing. 

Meat packing. 

Prices. 

Wages. 

Supply and demand. 
Immigration. 

Conservation of natural resources. 
The tariff. 

Municipal government. 

Economy in government. 

Child labor. 

Cost of living. 

Employer’s liability. 

Pensions and retirement systems. 
Municipal sanitation. 

Control of the causes of diseases. 
Morbidity. 

Mortality. 

Chemical elements, compounds, and reaction, 
Mechanics of solids. 
Mechanics of gases. 

Electricity. 

Sound. 

Light. 

Climate. 


This list is merely illustrative. There are hundreds, 
even thousands, of such matters which are seen 
quantitatively whenever adequately seen. We are 
not prepared to train for the community mathemat- 
ical functioning until we see that the thing needed 
primarily is the ability to see and think these hundreds 
of things in accurate quantitative ways. In the com- 
munity life, mathematics is not primarily a matter ‘of 
solving problems, but rather of seeing things in quan- 


150 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


titative ways and thinking in quantitative terms. In 
school life, therefore, mathematics should be primarily 
not a matter of solving difficult problems, but rather 
a matter of continuously viewing for many years the 
quantitative aspects of things, and of thinking in ac- 
curate terms. 

The major deficiency of present-day community 
thinking is its looseness and inaccuracy. We wallow 
in a slough of civic and economic inefficiency because 
we cannot think accurately; because we do not even 
know that in these fields we ought to think accurately; 
because we have not seriously tried to think accurately; 
and because we do not value accuracy of thought. 

The major criticism of the mathematical teaching 
in the general education of present-day high school 
and college is its colossal failure to develop habits of 
quantitative-mindedness on the part of the popula- 
tion. Those who have climbed the steeps of our usual 
algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, appear to think 
about as vaguely and loosely in the fields of civics, 
economics, and the like as those who have not. The 
system has been given a long fair trial. The results 
are disappointing. 

The failure is due to the fact that we have not se- 
riously tried to make the population quantitative- 
minded in the innumerable fields of their actual 
thought and action. The usual courses in mathe- 
matics are based upon the assumption that a study of 
the concepts of quantity and of quantitative relations 
in the abstract will in some magical way give one power 


MATHEMATICS 151 


to see the quantitative aspects of everything. The 
mental condition of our population proves the fallacy 
of the assumption. 

The way to come to see anything quantitatively is 
to look primarily at the thing itself and to see the 
quantitative aspect merely as aspect. 

This we have done somewhat in our high-school 
physics, chemistry, and practical arts. In general, 
however, it has not been attempted. In our high 
schools we have hammered away at concepts of equal- 
ity, inequality, ratio, proportionality, similarity, vari- 
ability, functional relations, and the solution of numer- 
ous problems involving these matters. The students 
have then gone out as blind as before to the variabil- 
ities, ratios, functions, etc., involved in school expendi- 
tures, taxation, insurance, home management, the 
fuel supply, ventilation, “manufacturing, transporta- 
tion, economic tendencies, and the thousand other 
matters which they ought to be able to view quanti- 
tatively. Studying about quantity in the abstract is a 
very different thing from viewing the world in its quan- 
titative aspects and relations. 

The need of accurate vision is imperative. The 
mathematics department does not deal with the things 
that ought to be seen in this way. It is rather the de- 
partments that are dealing with the realities that 
make up the world, which are in position to show the 
quantitative relations existing within these realities. 
It is the departments of civics, economics, practical 
arts, geography, physics, chemistry, biclogy, tech- 


152 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


nology, physiology, sanitation, history, and the like, 
that are in the position to develop the actually needed 
quantitative-mindedness. 

Ratio, for example, met with in kitchen recipes, in 
the mixing of cement mortar, in chemical compounds, 
or in the distribution of municipal expenditures, is 
actual ratio and not a textbook myth. Let the 
quantitative aspects of the so-called content subjects 
be developed and then one will meet with thousands of 
concrete ratios. Familiarity results from the experi- 
ences. For the most part one does not need a general- 
ized understanding of the theory of ratio in the ab- 
stract in order to handle ratios any more than he needs 
a generalized understanding of grammatical infin- 
itives in the abstract in order that he may use his 
infinitives. 

When quantitative variability and the interdepend- 
ence of variables are met with hundreds and thousands 
of times in accurately viewing economic, civic, sani- 
tational, and other realities, one has actual knowledge 
of what the functional relation is, and it is not a mere 
form of words and mathematical symbols. It is not 
probable that laymen in general need to arrive at the 
general conception of “‘functionality”” as a mathemat- 
ical abstraction. But it is imperative that they see 
the interdependence of variables in the thousand 
things of their environment. 

If it can be shown that men and women need the 
mathematical abstractions as well as a vision of 
quantity in the concrete, then the time to develop the 


MATHEMATICS 153 


abstract conceptions is after they are thoroughly famil- 
iar with the things in the concrete. 

We are suggesting diminution of attention to quan- 
tity in the abstract; and greatly increased attention to 
quantity in the concrete. We do not see how this is to 
be accomplished practically for general education ex- 
cept to diminish the abstract mathematics in the 
mathematics department, and to increase the quanti- 
tative element in the handling of the so-called content 
subjects. Time saved from the former can be used for 
the latter. 

“The other departments cannot be trusted to take 
care of the mathematical aspects of their subjects,” 
we are told. Then it is time that these departments 
learned how properly to perform their tasks. They 
are not doing it so long as they deal with things in 
loose, inaccurate, and non-quantitative ways. 

“Colleges will not stand for any such handling of 
mathematics.”” As a matter of fact, colleges of 
modern type will welcome with enthusiasm increased 
power of accurate seeing and thinking on the part of 
their incoming students. Colleges are coming to be 
pretty open-minded. More and more they are coming 
to be interested in the intellectual quality of students 
that come to them, rather than the specific courses 
which the student may or may not have had. 

“The plan requires that mathematics be taught 
incidentally.”” This statement assumes that our 
primary educational interest here is an understanding 
of mathematics in the abstract and that we are pre- 


154 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


senting a method of teaching this type of mathematics. 
This is to employ the attitudes and valuations which 
we are saying should be reversed. The thing which 
the population needs is not primarily a knowledge of 
mathematics in the abstract and ability to solve ab- 
stract mathematical problems; but rather accurate 
quantitative vision of things, forces, and relations. 
This major thing is not to be taken care of inciden- 
tally. We have in the past left it to the mathematics 
department to take care of more or less incidentally 
and the department has never been really interested 
in it. This situation is to be reversed. The thing of 
major value is to be taken care of as the major process; 
the thing of minor value as the incidental process. 

Naturally, if one is to think in terms of number, he 
must have the number concepts and vocabulary. He 
must know the number system. He must have some 
skill in computation in its various forms. How far he 
should go into the realm of general number is uncer- 
tain; probably some distance, and yet for general edu- 
cation not so far as is attempted in the traditional 
algebra. In any case, the bright will go farther than 
the medium; and the latter farther than the back- 
ward. The latter will probably not go beyond con- 
crete number — they will do well if they ever can go as 
far as that will carry them. 

An understanding of the number system, concrete 
and general, and skill in performing the essential oper- 
ations needs to be taken care of in the mathematics 
classes. This, however, ought not to require a great 


MATHEMATICS 155 


amount of time, since the bright can travel with speed 
and the dull need not go far. Then beyond the needed 
minimum of such abstract mathematics, the mastery 
can be left to the use of mathematics in the content 
studies. Except for the alphabet of the field the way 
to learn mathematics is to use it. 

“The content-study departments have so much to 
do now that they have not time to introduce the nec- 
essary quantitative elements into their studies.” This 
is to say that they do not have time to take adequate 
care of their subjects, since this is done only when 
matters are handled in accurate ways. As a matter 
of fact, we have not seriously tried yet to make our 
content-subjects properly quantitative. We do not 
yet know how much time would be required. We 
cannot know what is possible until we have tried. 
The chances are that when things are made definite 
through making them quantitative, more can be ac- 
complished in a given time than under present meth- 
ods of dealing with vagueness and undefined gener- 
alities. It is difficult to make speed in a fog, dealing 
with fog-material. 

Thus far we have discussed mathematics as an 
aspect of one’s current seeing and thinking: as an om- 
nipresent practical intellectual function; as a thing of 
use, subordinated to other things. But this further 
question arises: May not mathematics, like any 
other science, be a field of fundamental or primary 
human experience? May it not be a fruitful field of 
intellectual play? 


156 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Mathematics, of course, is a science. Yet it differs 
in fundamental ways from the sciences treated in the 
foregoing chapter. ‘Those sciences make clear to us 
the active forces with which man must deal and which 
he must control. In each of them the thing treated 
is positive energy in action and at work. Mathe- 
matics, on the other hand, does not confront us with 
positive and active forces or energies which are to be 
controlled. It deals only with aspects of these active 
realities. And as an aspect, it is best seen in situ. 

But can the field of mathematical concepts be a 
field of intellectual luxuriation comparable in value 
and appeal to that of the positive sciences? Does the 
mathematics satisfy intellectual hungers which ought 
for one’s development to be satisfied? Does it present 
an inspiring vision of reality, of sufficient appeal to 
stimulate the necessary effort, and of sufficient value 
to warrant the necessary time, expense, and labor? 

In some measure, doubtless we can answer all of 
these questions in the affirmative. It can probably be 
of considerable value to those of large native intellec- 
tual endowment; and it may be justified for them 
since they can ascend the mathematical steeps without 
the expenditure of any excessive amount of time or 
energy. ‘The poorer the native endowment, the less 
can be the intellectual profit and the greater must be 
the time and energy required. As we descend the 
scale of ability, therefore, we relatively soon reach the 
point where diminishing returns make the higher 
mathematics an insufficiently profitable field of pure 


MATHEMATICS 157 


intellectual play. It must also be admitted that even 
with the intellectualist, in the majority of cases, the 
intellectual hunger here is not particularly striking — 
rarely is it a field of self-motivated intellectual recrea- 
tion. Neither can it be urged that for most persons 
mathematics in the abstract presents an inspiring 
vision of reality of a type which warrants time and 
labor. Leaving aside teachers and other specialists 
in mathematics, few persons find anything inspir- 
ing about quadratics, simultaneous equations, or the 
quantitative relations involved within a right triangle. 
A considerable percentage of adolescents enjoy the 
activities just as they enjoy puzzles or chess in a com- 
petitive social atmosphere. They enjoy doing things; 
and solving problems or puzzles is doing things. 
There are, however, other types of problem-solving 
that may be just as interesting and endlessly more 
profitable. 

“But the general discipline of climbing these intel- 
lectual steeps?”’ asks one. Doubtless it is good for 
one to climb into the rarified intellectual atmosphere 
— if he enjoys it enough to do his own climbing, and 
if he does not here waste time and energy which are 
needed for other activities of more clearly demon- 
strated worth. Let it be an “extra.” 

In line with the foregoing discussion we suggest the 
following tllustrative platform of general principles and 
assumptions: 


158 


10. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


GuIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


. The mathematics of the basic general training should 


be that which functions in the non-vocational thought 
and affairs of men and women; together with that which 
is common to all vocations. 


. On the side of practical uses, the major thing needed is 


not ability to solve difficult mathematical problems; it 
is rather ability and disposition to think accurately 
and quantitatively in one’s affairs. ‘The latter fre- 
quently involves mathematical operations as incidental 
matters. 


. The way to learn to think quantitatively in fields where 


this is desirable is mainly to think quantitatively rela- 
tive to matters in those fields. 


. The ability to do quantitative thinking is to be devel- 


oped in youth under conditions as nearly like those in 
which it is to function as practicable. 


. While the mathematical operations are not the main 


things, yet it is indispensable that one perform the 
needed ones with certainty and skill. 


. The number system must be studied and mastered in 


and for itself before it can be used for quantitative 
thinking. 


. The needed mastery of the world of number is to be at- 
tained mainly through using number — not by study- 


ing about number. 


. In the general training, the theory of mathematics is to 


be developed in the minimum measure actually needful 
for quantitative thinking. It is accessory, not funda- 
mental. 


. Much of the content of the economic and civic studies 


should be thoroughly quantitative. 


The quantitative element of the science studies should 
be fully developed; but for the sake of the science 


ie 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


17. 


18. 


19. 


MATHEMATICS 159 


needed in the general education; not for training in a 
specialized technique. 


Outside of their vocations, almost the only mathe- 
matics really used by men and women is applied arith- 
metic. 


Even in their vocations, only a small percentage of 
citizens use algebra or trigonometry; and practically 
none use demonstrative geometry. 


The needed mastery of the world of form and space- 
relation is to be attained mainly by using and con- 
structing forms. Studies about form need to be only 
brief and incidental. 


In their general activities, individuals are sometimes 
concerned with the use of formuls; but rarely with their 
derivation. 


The ‘‘consumer” uses the inventions of others. He 
needs to know how to use them; but he need not know 
all the technical science used by the inventor. This 
applies to mathematical devices as fully as to clocks or 
speedometers. 


An appreciation of the worth of mathematics in human 
life should be developed by using mathematics in one’s 
affairs; and by seeing its uses in human affairs in gen- 
eral. 


Mathematics has its highest disciplinary value when it 
is the quantitative aspect of one’s civic, economic, 
scientific, vocational, and other thinking and planning. 


Arithmetical activities and experiences of the applied 
type should be more abundant and diversified than at 
present; they should be particularly abundant on the 
later levels of one’s general education. 


That algebra, geometry, or other mathematics, which 
actually functions, or should function, in the non- 
vocational affairs of men and women should be in- 
cluded in the basic general training; beyond this, for 
general education, it should be optional. 


160 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


26. 


27. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


The essentials of the algebra and intuitive geometry 
which are actually needed by men and women in their 
non-vocational affairs can be mastered in a relatively 
brief time. Frequent application can take care of the 
assimilation. 


Outside of certain specialized technical occupations, 
trigonometry is not used. It does not provide centers 
for systems of ideas valuable in one’s general intellec- 
tual or humanistic life. The vision and inspiration 
presented by the right triangle is scarcely worth men- 
tioning. 


One should have a very thorough mastery of the math- 
ematics involved in one’s vocation; but this is to be 
provided for in one’s vocational training. 


The algebra, geometry, trigonometry, or other math- 
ematics required by specialized occupations should be 
discovered by analysis of those occupations, and or- 
ganized into short or long courses according to the 
needs of the several occupations. It should then be 
administered as occupational training; and only to 
those who have chosen the occupations demanding it. 
If others take it, it will be administered as an “‘extra.” 


There are as many types of vocational mathematics 
as there are vocations. Each should use the illustra- 
tive materials of the given vocation. 


. Most thought relative to mathematics appears to as- 


sume that a higher form of mathematics is needed for 
vocations than for all other kinds of human activities 
combined. In the case of the majority of vocations, 
this is not true. 


Few vocations demand more mathematics than that 
which is called for by the general functional activities 
of cultivated men and women outside of their voca- 
tions. ‘The latter may require special applications and 
a higher degree of skill; but only occasionally more of 
the pure mathematics. 


Because of the advanced mathematics required by a 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


MATHEMATICS 161 


very few of the vocations there is a greatly exagger- 
ated tendency to administer advanced mathematics to 
all individuals. 


General training should never prepare a small but as yet 
unselected minority for specialized activities by prepar- 
ing everybody for those activities in order that the small 
minority may profit. 


Functional training demands that the functions be 
known before the training Is given. 


So long as the schools are unable to give all of the func- 
tional training which man needs, they should provide 
for that which is demonstrably necessary, and omit 
that which is merely conjectural. 


As fields of intellectual play, neither algebra, demon- 
strative geometry, nor trigonometry provide centers of 
growing systems of ideas of any considerable human- 
istic value. As apperception centers, they do not 
greatly function. 


Number, form, magnitude, and quantitative relation 
are realities involved in the make-up of one’s environ- 
ment. One can scarcely become fully acquainted with 
the latter except as he becomes acquainted with the 
things which make it up. But the number, form, or 
magnitude which is known as an aspect of the en- 
vironment should mostly be seen as an aspect of this 
environment, not merely as an unrelated abstraction, 
or piece of manipulative technique. 


Mathematics is a high intellectual realm which makes 
a fit field of intellectual play experience on a high level 
for the rarer, finer, more capable minds. Those who 
can scale these austere heights with zest and pleasure, 
mostly self-directed, and with such speed that time 
needed for other things is not disproportionately con- 
sumed, can doubtless profit, from the intellectual ex- 
perience. Whether the profit be small or large is un- 
known. 


34. To dwell in realms of abstract thought is the way to 


162 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


become at home in realms of abstract thought. Math. 
ematics is one of the highest and most rarefied of these 
realms. 


35. In considering mathematics for developing intellectual 
power and endurance, it should be borne in mind that 
there are numerous other heights to be scaled which are 
as complex and difficult as mathematics; and from 
which, when once scaled, the outlook is more profitable. 


36. Man’s needed vision of the infinite is better shown by 
the realities to which mathematics is applied than by 
the mathematics in the abstract. 


Tuer OBJECTIVES 

As one looks through the list of abilities and qualities 
presented in Chapter IT, one’s first thought is that the 
mathematics has largely been lost sight of. As a 
matter of fact the absence of abilities to do things 
which are purely mathematical and nothing else reveals 
the place of the quantitative element in human experi- 
ence. It enters in as one of the factors in many of the 
behavior objectives. For the basic training, the mathe- 
matics objectives are possibly the following: 


THE OBJECTIVES OF MATHEMATICS 


502 (22-a). The ability, in dealing with one’s numerous in- 
dividual, family, civic, and other non-specialized af- 
fairs, to do one’s thinking in quantitative terms so far 
as this is needful for accuracy. Skill in handling the 
quantitative or mathematical matters involved. 


501 (n). A proportioned intellectual apprehension, such as 
one’s natural capacity will permit, of the world of 
number, quantity, magnitude. 


MATHEMATICS 163 


Purit ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 


Before attempting to lay out the detailed series of 


pupil activities and experiences which make up the 


finished curriculum, the curriculum-making group 
should formulate a list of the general types of pupil 
activity which should be performed. The following 
list is merely illustrative of the kind of series which 


the group should formulate on the basis of its own 


judgment: 


i 


Both in his work and in his play, the pupil will have 
dealings with innumerable things which require his at- 
tention to the quantitative and numerical aspects and 
relations. 


. His initial ideas of quantity, number, and numerical 


operations, and his vocabulary, he will secure from 
teachers, parents, and other associates. 


. He will learn the number system largely or mainly by 


using it. 


. He will master the fundamental operations largely 


through performing them repeatedly within work or 
play situations which call for them. 


. So far as needful he will practice the fundamental oper- 


ations of number until he can perform them with suffi- 
cient ease and accuracy. 


. He will read science, geography, technology, civics, 


economic discussions of industry and commerce and the 
like, in which facts are presented in quantitative terms. 
Readings of this type should increase in relative quan- 
tity from the beginning to the end of general education. 


. In his problem-solving in geography, science, civics, 


economics, and practical arts, he should, from grade to 
grade, solve an ever-increasing number of quantitative 
problems, 


164 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


8. In making surveys of community matters, his facts, 
together with his organization and interpretation of 
these facts, will involve an abundance of quantitative 
matters. 


9. As he participates in community discussion which has 
for its purpose the development and maintenance of 
public opinion, the facts with which he deals will 
largely be stated in quantitative terms. 


10. He will prepare statistical charts, graphs, and dia- 
grams in his organization for community purposes of 
civic inspectorial findings. 


11. He will, etc., ete. 


The curriculum-making group will formulate the 
general types of pupil experiences which in its judg- 
ment should be employed. It may differ widely from 
the foregoing list. After the group has decided upon 
the general types of pupil activity and experience, then 
it will be ready to undertake the task of reducing them 
to the specifics which will make up the detailed cur- 
riculum of each of the school grades from kindergarten 
to the end of secondary education. 


CHAPTER X 
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE 


Suppose we take the case of one hundred men and 
women who have been eminently successful in their 
development and maintenance of physique and 
physical powers. What have been the activities, 
habits, and standards of physical behavior of these 
individuals? What hygienic information have they 
used for guidance? What has been their general in- 
tellectual outlook in this field? When the curriculum- 
maker has answers to such questions, he will be pre- 
pared to define the objectives of education for physi- 
cal development and maintenance. 

Another mode of approach is to discover the ways in 
which the health of individuals tends to go wrong. 
It is to find the physical weaknesses, defects, and ail- 
ments among the members of the community; and then 
to locate the activities, habits, information, and the 
like, which can be of service in preventing or counter- 
acting these deficiencies. In locating the counteract- 
ing influences, naturally one will look to the methods 
employed by those who are successful in their care of 
the physique. The two methods therefore will arrive 
at the same conclusions. 

Either method will discover that some of the abilities 
to be developed are as follows: 


166 


101. 


102. 


103. 


104. 


105. 


106. 


107. 


108. 


109. 


110. 


111. 


112. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


OBJECTIVES OF PHysiIcAL EDUCATION 


Ability to control one’s dietary in such ways as to make 
one’s food contribute in maximum measure to one’s 
physical well-being. 


Ability to keep the body mechanism properly oxy- 
genated. 


Ability to utilize muscular exercise as a lifelong means 
of maintaining a high level of physical vitality. 


Ability and disposition throughout life to engage with 
pleasure and profit in a varied repertory of games, 
sports, athletics, outdoor recreations, etc., such as 
swimming, skating, hiking, rowing, riding, tennis, golf, 
ball games of various kinds, running games, dancing, 
fishing, hunting, canoeing, motoring, camping, ath- 
letic events, ete. 


Ability and disposition to engage in a variety of un- 
specialized practical labors which contribute to one’s 
repertory of physical experiences. 


Ability to employ setting-up exercises for corrective or 
emergency purposes when nothing better is available. 


Ability to carry one’s self and to move and act with 
ease, grace, and precision. 


Ability to maintain postures conducive to the best 
physical functioning. 


Ability to make one’s various mental and emotional 
states and activities contribute in maximum degree to 
one’s physical well-being. 


Ability to make one’s sleep contribute in maximum 
measure to the development and maintenance of a high 
level of physical vitality. 


Ability to relax physically and mentally at proper 
times and in proper ways. 


Ability to protect one’s self from micro-organisms; and 
to deal with them and their products effectively in case 
of attack. 


113. 


114. 


115. 


116. 


117. 
118. 


119. 


120. 


121. 


122. 
123. 


124. 
125. 
126. 
127. 
128. 


129. 
130. 
131. 


PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 167 


Ability to take proper precautions against the spread of 
disease. 


Ability to protect from dust, smoke, and noxious 
gases. 


Ability rightly to control the factors involved in the 
maintenance of body temperatures. 


Ability to dress in ways that promote the physical well- 
being in maximum degree. 


Ability and disposition to maintain ne cleanliness. 


Ability to provide the most favorable conditions for 
the elimination from the tissues, organs, and body in 
general of all harmful or needless substances and 
agents. 


Ability to control one’s relations to sunlight so as to 
secure maximum benefits therefrom. 


Ability to secure that variety or diversity of physical 
experiences necessary for maximum well-being. 


Ability to draw up an individual program of work, play, 
rest, sleep, meals, etc., best suited to one’s physical 
nature and capacity. 


Ability to avoid preventable accidents. 


Ability to deal with conditions produced by many kinds 
of common accidents. 


Ability to care for the teeth. 


Ability to care for the eyes. 
Ability to care for nose, ear, and throat. 
Ability to care for the skin. 


Ability to keep the heart and blood vessels in normal 
working condition. 


Ability to care for the hair and scalp. 
Ability to care for the nails. 
Ability to care properly for the feet. 


168 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


132. Ability to control sex-functions in the interests of phys- 
ical and social well-being. 


133. The ability to keep reasonably well informed, in the 
degree to be expected of the layman, as to the discov- 
eries of science in the fields of health conservation and 
promotion. 


134. Ability alone or in codperation with physicians and 
nurses to deal effectively with many kinds of disorders. 


135. Ability to care for the sick — so far as laymen need 
this ability. 


136. Ability to take the protective, precautionary, or reme- 
dial steps necessary to protect one’s self or family from 
common ailments. 


187. Ability wisely to utilize the services of physicians, 
nurses, dentists, and other specialists in health and 
physical upbuilding and maintenance. 


138. Ability within one’s occupational field to codperate 
effectively in providing wholesome working conditions. 


139. Ability to perform one’s civic functions in codperating 
with and in the social support and control of public 
agencies engaged in promoting the general physical 
welfare. 

Each curriculum-making group should make its own 
analyses and formulate its own series of objectives. It 
should then use the entire series as the basis of the 
program of physical education. Everything in the list 
should be given its due place. Nothing should be 
slighted or omitted, — except possibly here and there 
where communities are not yet ready to sanction 
certain aspects of the work. 

In this field as in every other, the processes of edu- 
cation should be as fully as practicable the processes 
of normal living. General education of good type is 


PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 169 


the process of growing up in the right way. Physical 
education is the process of growing up in the right 
way through having a continuity of physical activities 
and experiences of proper types. 

The training in food activities, for example, should 
result from right kinds of food activities and experi- 
ences through all the growing years. This naturally 
must involve technical scientific information for 
guidance of the activities. And this should be self- 
guidance by the growing individual in the degree in 
which he is sufficiently mature to understand matters 
and to exercise self-direction. Growth in the power to 
exercise self-guidance is a part of the total growth. 
Then also there should be the development of right 
habits, tastes, desires, valuations, and the like. These 
will be normal only as they grow up out of the year-long 
mostly self-directed food activities of the individual. 
In all of these matters classroom activities will con- 
stitute an initial portion of the training; but not the 
fundamental experiences. 

The foregoing illustration is typical of everything in 
this field. In achieving each ability, the fundamental 
training is right living. Classroom activities are pre- 
paratory to self-guidance. 

Some of the right living — about one eighth — will 
be at school. The other seven eighths will be at home, 
and otherwhere in the community. The latter calls 
for certain supervisory labors by way of assisting 
immature individuals in their out-of-school activities, 
and by way of providing necessary stimulations and 


170 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


recognition of effort. A proper program of training 
quite obviously demands considerable parental under- 
standing and coéperation. In this field of education, 
obviously schools have tended to become too special- 
ized. A considerable amount of unspecialized edu- 
cational activity on the part of parents is clearly 
advisable. 

This plan calls for fundamental changes in the usual 
type of physical education. A curriculum-making 
group should therefore begin by formulating a platform 
of general principles and assumptions which they in- 
tend to use for guidance. We suggest the following 
merely as a pattern of the kind of thing which the group 
will formulate for itself: 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


1. Training for physical development and maintenance is 
indispensable for all individuals. It is one of the es- 
sentials of the basic training. 


2, Education during childhood and youth is preparation 
for the mature life of adulthood. This applies to phys- 
ical education as fully as to any other. 


3. Physical development and maintenance will be the 
center of interest of the physical training department. 
The department, however, will also be responsible for 

- that social training involved in the plays, games, sports, 
etc., which are used as means of physical training. 


4. The physique in every portion and aspect is developed 
and maintained through exercise of function, normal in 
character and amount. 


5. Every portion and aspect of the physique is to be pro- 
vided for in the training for physical development and 
maintenance. Exercise of function must therefore look 


10. 


i 


12. 


13. 


14. 


PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 171 


not only to muscular exercise, but also to nutrition, 
oxygenation, elimination, sleep, temperature regula- 
tion, relations to micro-organisms, and the other mat- 
ters referred to in the list of objectives. 


. The physical training department has usually too much 


specialized on muscular exercise and social activities to 
the relative neglect of other necessary matters. 


. Physical education is a matter of right physical living 


throughout the twenty-four hours of every day and the 
seven days of every week. The few hours per week of 
systematic school exercises out of the one hundred and 
sixty-eight hours of physical experience can accomplish 
directly relatively little. 


. The total program of the school should be drawn with 


a view to proper physical living during the time the 
children are there. 


. The one hundred and thirty-eight hours per week of 


physical experience away from the school plant should 
be utilized as fully as practicable for physical training 
purposes. 


Physical experiences of “‘normal living” type should 
be the central and major feature of the physical train- 
ing — and utilized in maximum measure. 


Activities of preparatory or accessory type should be 
reduced to a minimum. 


Through physical examination, analysis, and diagnosis, 
those responsible for physical development will dis- 
cover the specific training needs of the individual 


children. 


As fully as their degree of maturity will permit, children 
are to be made acquainted with the diagnostic analyses 
of their physical condition. 


Each pupil will have the objectives of his physical 
development and maintenance made clear to him as he 
becomes mature enough to understand. 


172 
15 


16. 


We 


18. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


After students become conscious of their individual 
physical training needs, they will listen to taiks on 
those problems by physicians, nurses, dentists, dieti- 
tians, and other specialists. They will also read fully 
relative to the problems. 


The best muscular exercise is that of vigorous play 
under normal conditions; or of physical work that is 
enjoyed. 


In the formation of habits of exercise, full regard should 
be had to the matter of interest and pleasure and favor- 
able attitudes. 


Physical exercises that are not enjoyed by the children 
are relatively unprofitable. 


A varied play program takes care of the entire muscu- 
lature in a sufficiently balanced way. 


For normal children, a varied play program takes care 
in a human way of all the desirable objectives of formal 
gymnastics; and of many others besides. 


Habits of physical exercise should be formed during 
adolescence in ways and under conditions in which they 
are later to function during adulthood. 


The physical-development-and-maintenance activities 
that are to persist throughout life are the ones mainly 
to be employed during adolescence. 


If “setting-up exercises” are to be employed daily 
throughout life by individuals, then in training for such 
habits, conditions as nearly like those in which the ex- 
ercises are later to function are to be employed in 
youth in developing the habits. This calls for home 
exercises for home habits, not school exercises for 
school habits. 


If group-gymnastics are to be employed throughout 
life at word of command, then the group-gymnastics 
are to be administered during adolescence in this way. 


. If one during adulthood is to employ practical un- 


26. 


27. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 173 


specialized activities for his exercise, then interests 
should be awakened and the habits formed during 
adolescence. 


If physical play is to be the exercise of adults, then 
interests, habits and skills are to be formed during 
adolescence. 


Pupils should be encouraged in every way possible to 
find ways at home and elsewhere away from the 
school to secure their necessary amount of daily and 
weekly physical exercise. 


The boy or girl who has found ways away from school 
to secure a sufficiency of physical exercise of proper 
kinds, and who will keep himself up to physical stand- 
ard without the use of the school’s facilities, should not 
only be permitted to do so, but encouraged by giving 
extra credit for the self-direction. The proof should be 
maintenance of normal physical condition, and con- 
tinuance of normal development as shown by periodic 
physical tests and examinations. 


The schools should provide nothing for the physical 
development and maintenance of the children that can 
be as well or better provided by the homes under the 
supervision of parents, teachers, and nurses. 


The away-from-school physical play should have the 
stimulation and supervisory influence of the measure- 


-ment and record of physical achievement. 


If physical training is to be adequate, parents must 
either perform a larger amount of codperative labor in 
supervising physical development activities of their 
children, or pay a larger amount than at present in get- 
ting it done by the schools. 


Owing to the frequent or usual paucity of opportunity 
at home or otherwhere in the neighborhood, the schools 
should provide such physical development opportuni- 
ties as they can. 


The most earnest attention of the physical training de- 
partment should be directed to those most in need of it. 


74 


34. 


36. 


37. 


38. 


39. 


40. 


41. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


The physical training spaces should be given over most 
to those of greatest educational need of them: (1) 
Those who have least opportunity away from the 
school; and (2) those in greatest physical need of the 
training experience. 


5. Special effort should be made to develop a full knowl- 


edge of the need of life-long continuing habits of proper 
muscular exercise. 


The ability to do hygienic thinking is to be developed 
in ways and under conditions as nearly like those under 
which it will function in adulthood as practicable. 


To have greatest value, talks and readings relative to 
the technical matters of hygiene should be related to 
the practical hygienic activities of the individual pupils. 


The major training in proper habits of ventilation, 
diet, sleep, eliminations, cleanliness, posture, protec- 
tion from micro-organisms, and every other matter of 

ersonal hygiene is that which results from the pupil’s 
self-watchfulness over his individual activities. Pre- 
liminary training is needed for awakening necessary 
interests and attitudes, and for securing necessary in- 
formation. 


By way of visualizing health factors, influences, proc- 
esses, etc., in a proportioned way in their social settings 
and relationships, pupils will read abundantly relative 
to matters in this field. The readings should be such 
as reveal the factors in the vivid concrete ways that 
awaken interests and hold attention. 


Out of the concrete readings will grow generalizations; 
and through problem-solving these generalizations 
will be used, assimilated, and made functional in one’s 
thinking and judgments. 


The principles of physical development and mainte- 
nance, and of hygiene and sanitation, are to be intellec- 
tual results of the labors of this department as fully as 
principles and generalizations are the results of the 


42. 


PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 175 


labors of other departments. They are necessary for 
individual self-guidance. 


So far as practicable the pupils should have associa- 
tions and live within an atmosphere that stimulates 
healthy, well-balanced, and sufficiently vigorous hy- 
gienic thinking. 


Pupit ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 


For each separate objective there probably should be 
formulated a separate series of pupil activities and 
experiences. But one will begin such a task by formu- 
lating general types of experience to be employed. The 
beginning of such a series may be somewhat as follows: 


1. 


The pupil will observe, directly and through reading 
and pictures, the physical qualities, activities, and 
habits of those who exemplify what he should strive 
for. 


. He will associate with individuals who value and who 


exhibit in their own persons the physical qualities and 
habits which he ought to possess. 


. He will himself do the things needful for physical up- 


building, protection, and maintenance as the basic 


_ mode of Jearning to do them. 


. He will exercise self-direction and self-inspection so far 


as he proves himself competent to do so. 


. For his self-planning and self-direction, he will seek 


hygienic information and advice, directly or through 
reading, from those in a position to know. 


. So far as he is unable to exercise self-direction, he will 


follow the leadership and guidance of those in directo- 
rial relation to him: especially parents, teachers, nurses, 
and physicians. 


. He will discover and list the shortcomings in his health 


activities and habits. 


176 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


8. He will make specially careful study of hygienic infor- 
mation relating to matters in which he finds himself de- 


ficient. 


9. After he has discovered what he ought to do in the 
formation of right habits, and what he ought to avoid, 
he will put himself on guard against lapses from right 
action until habits have been securely formed. 


10. He will periodically measure his physical achievements 
and condition against standards which are appropriate 
for him; and he will keep a record of the several funda- 
mental aspects of his development. 


11. He will participate in making surveys of various types 
in the health field. 


12. In his readings he will indirectly observe health activ- 
ities and conditions in different regions and periods of 
history. 


13. He will, etc., ete. 


After the curriculum-making group has completed 
its series of general types of pupil activity and experi- 
ence, the next step is to take up the objectives one by 
one and reduce the general types to the specific activ- 
ities and experiences which are appropriate to each of 
the several grade levels. 


CHAPTER XI 
UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 


Most of the productive and distributive work of the 
world is done by the specialized occupations. Some of 
the necessary labor of the world remains and probably 
ought to remain unspecialized and performed by in- 
dividuals in general. Most of the farming and garden- 
ing will be done by farmers and gardeners; but a small 
portion of the labor will be done by families in un- 
specialized ways on their own premises. Most clothing 
manufacture will be done in the clothing trades; but a 
portion of it will probably always remain in the hands 
of housewives. The construction of and major repairs 
upon houses and household equipment will be done 
by tradesmen; but minor repairs, adjustments, and re- 
placements will be made by the householder himself. 
Major labors upon motor cars will be performed by 
garage and service men; but the car owner will make 
many adjustments and small repairs and replacements. 
The food of the family will largely be prepared in 
bakeries, canneries, and other specialized establish- 
ments; yet much of it will be prepared by general or 
unspecialized household workers within the home. 
Health care will be in part performed by physicians 
and nurses, and in part performed by individuals them- 
selves. The upbringing of children in right ways will 
be in part performed by the specialized educational 


178 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


profession and in part performed in unspecialized ways 
by parents. | 

We live in such an age of specialization that the un- 
specialized practical activities have until recently been 
largely overlooked by education. It has been assumed 
that training is needed for vocational skill and under- 
standing but that these unspecialized labors are either 
unjustifiable or they are so simple as to be sufficiently 
taken care of incidentally through the normal processes 
of living. Undoubtedly this is the case with a large 
number of them. On the other hand, there are many 
which require a certain amount of training before they 
can be properly done. 

The feeling is common that all practical labors of 
men should be specialized; that the specialized groups 
have the right to perform all of the labors which pertain 
to their fields and that the ordinary citizen has no 
right to perform labors outside of his own specialty. 
This is to assume that we are to attain such special- 
ization that every nail to be driven about the premises 
must be driven by the carpenter; every post to be 
painted in the back fence must be painted by a painter; 
every cotter-ball which gives way in the plumbing 
faucet should be replaced by a plumber; every wire 
which jolts loose in the electric iron or motor-car is to 
be replaced and tightened up by an electrician. The 
tendency in large cities is certainly toward this com- 
pleteness of specialization. 

One of the most baffling of educational questions at 
present, therefore, is the degree to which men and 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 179 


women are to perform unspecialized activities. Years 
ago when manual training and drawing were justified 
by their formal discipline values, the courses could be 
operated on faith without concern relative to their 
later functioning within the adult life. But nowadays 
when it is clear that education is preparation for the 
performance of mankind’s activities of one sort or 
another, and when every educational activity must be 
justified on the basis of its power to promote these 
actual adult activities, the problems become very 
difficult. In our cities and villages and even on the 
specialized farms, gardening has largely disappeared. 
Even the most minor repairs about the home are 
turned over to carpenters, plumbers, painters, and 
janitors. Mothers buy most of the clothing ready- 
made. Outside laundries do the family washing and 
ironing, and foods are secured from bakeries, caterers, 
and delicatessens. There is no doubt of the strong 
drift toward increased specialization of all productive 
and distributive labors, with corresponding diminution 
of unspecialized activities. Even in the upbringing 
of children, parents wish to turn over to teachers, 
nurses, ete., all possible responsibility, retaining in 
their own hands the least possible. 

In discovering the objectives of education one will 
begin with analyses of community activities. He will 
discover what men and women are doing; especially 
what they ought to be doing. He will discover what 
ought to be done by analyzing the activities of those 
who are doing things in the best way. Now the ques- 


180 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


tion arises as to just what class of persons in our com- 
munities it is who are performing the proper amounts 
and types of unspecialized activities. If we could 
know this, then we could make the analyses for de- 
termining the educational objectives. ‘There is no 
agreement. No one knows. 

There are those who believe that practically all 
labor should be placed in specialized hands, each per- 
son doing one kind of work and that one kind well. At 
the other extreme there are those who believe that 
each individual should do one specialized kind of work 
well, and yet also perform many kinds of practical 
activities in unspecialized ways. For these beliefs he 
presents such reasons as the following: 

I. Beyond a certain point, specialization is not 
economical. When a wire jolts loose in the connec- 
tions of the home electric washing-machine, it is but 
the work of a minute to replace the wire and tighten 
the screw. The loss of time, labor, and money is prac- 
tically zero. But if one is to use the services of the 
specialized tradesman, the individual and social costs 
are surprisingly numerous; and in their aggregate, 
large. One must telephone to the electrician, his 
clerk must take and record the order, the telephone 
system must transmit the communication. The work 
will wait an hour, a day, or a week before the workman 
can get around to it. The electrician must then 
travel, usually walk, several blocks to the house. On 
arrival, he must locate the difficulty and make the re- 
pairs. Then he returns to his shop. The work has 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 18] 


required from one to three hours. The bookkeeper 
records the matter. At the end of the month he makes 
out the bill, and the postman delivers it. The house- 
wife writes out the check, prepares the envelope, mails 
it. The postman delivers this second letter. The 
check goes to the bank, requiring more labor there. 
It is surprising what a social commotion is caused by a 
wire’s jolting loose. 

Now all of these labors must be paid for by the fam- 
ily. The expense amounts to quite an item. It is not 
a negligible matter. Itisalosstothe individual. But 
since these many labors of the social mechanism have 
produced absolutely nothing but the replacement of an 
electric wire, we must note the complete waste from a 
social point of view. This type of unnecessary thing is 
the source of much of the high cost of living. 

The purpose of specialization of industry is increased 
production, increased economy, and in consequence 
increased general welfare. Its purpose is increased 
production with diminished labor. When the special- 
ization reaches the point where the process is reversed, 
where there is less production, less economy, and less 
total economic product, then specialized labor is not 
justified; it is the unspecialized labor which should 
perform the activity. 

We took an illustration that is obvious. But it is 
not extreme nor exceptional. If one will look through 
the long list of unspecialized activities listed in this 
chapter, he will discover that in the case of most of 
them, under circumstances that are frequent, it is 


182 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


distinct economy to utilize one’s own unspecialized 
labors rather than to resort to the specialized worker. 
Naturally, of course, these matters will vary according 
to the circumstances. We are presuming that men 
can be made intelligent enough to know when it is 
advisable to perform labors in unspecialized ways and 
when it is profitable to turn them over to specialized 
vocations. ‘The educationist must not be misled by 
arguments based upon quite special situations and 
cases. , 

II. A second reason for the development of un- 
specialized practical ability is that the individual who 
must depend on others for everything is helpless in un-. 
foreseen emergencies. In this highly mechanical age, 
we live in a bewildering maze of mechanical contriv- 
ances. When in good working order they greatly 
lighten our labors; but even the best of them get out of 
order and require adjustments, replacement of parts, 
and repairs. One whois skillful in keeping them going 
can make them serve his purposes. One who cannot 
do so, must await the convenience and good-will of 
tradesmen who will take up his job after a delay of 
hours or days or weeks; and then, as often as not, take 
advantage of him because of his evident ignorance and 
helplessness. 

These innumerable contrivances are provided the 
consumer for his individual uses. The consumer can- 
not be merely passive. He must know how to keep 
the things usable which are supplied him for his uses. 

III. Specialized services tend toward inefficiency 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 183 


and parasitism if they are not supervised by those who 
have some understanding of the matter. The plumber 
in a slack season can make the replacement of a cotter- 
ball in a leaky faucet extend over half a day when he 
knows that the housewife has no understanding of the 
trouble and of the character and quantity of the labor 
involved. It makes greatly for expedition on his part 
if he knows that she knows that the work can be done 
in ten minutes. When a family can do things for itself, 
then it is prepared to get effective work done eco- 
nomically by those whom the family employs. Lack- 
ing this ability they are largely at the mercy of the 
specialized workers. It is in the nature of man whether 
he be plumber, lawyer, electrician, teacher, physician 
or public-office-holder to take advantage of his op- 
portunities. Tendencies to parasitism and _ ineffi- 
ciency are not to be corrected by preaching at people 
nor by developing a service-conscience which is self- 
acting and does not require stimulation by others. 
Man is not made that way. Asa matter of fact, the 
specialist’s service-conscience depends for action upon 
his knowledge that his activities are understood and 
judged by those about him. 

IV. As we have explained more fully elsewhere, it is 
not good for a man to be too much of a specialist. Man’s 
nature was formed under conditions in which he was re- 
quired to perform a great variety of activities and to 
become a thorough-going specialist in none of them. 
His nature has fitted him for amateur diversified 
activities in many fields. If he is to be fully developed 


184 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


in an all-around way and to maintain this fullness of 
development, then it seems that he should continue 
throughout life this diversity of experiences in many 
fields. One tendency nowadays is to use such play- 
activities as golf, tennis, or motoring as correctives to 
our over-specialization. These are good certainly, and 
they should be utilized in increased measure; but on the 
other hand it is probable that the grown man should 
engage in a variety of activities which involve re- 
sponsibility. The practical activities about home, 
basement, garage, motor-car, etc., appear to be things 
beneficent in the maintenance of his personality. 

In an age that demands largeness of personality, the 
natural man is small enough even without special- 
ization. ‘To specialize his powers intensively in some 
one field and leave his other powers fallow is but to 
accentuate and perpetuate this natural smallness of the 
individual. It is good neither for the man nor for 
society. 

VY. They are needed to prevent the disintegration of 
the home. Family solidarity results in chief measure 
from the experiences of the members of the family in 
codperatively exerting themselves, with conscious 
purpose, to promote the welfare of the home. In the 
degree in which there are no home responsibilities, the 
conditions necessary for producing and maintaining 
family solidarity are lacking. The family inevitably 
disintegrates. 

VI. Finally there is the matter of physical health. 
The specialized worker whether in office, store, or 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 185 


factory, tends more and more to be sedentary, per- 
forming a simple mechanical process or tending a 
single machine. The quantity and variety of physical 
experience is often very limited indeed. Such indi- 
viduals require the relaxation and the supplementation 
of activities which involve normally the entire organ- 
ism. ‘To leave their specialty and turn to miscellane- 
ous activities about home and garden is to provide a 
necessary type of relaxation and normality of physical 
experience. 

As we look at the actual community life we see that 

men and women are performing these unspecialized 
activities about the homes. It is true they are doing 
it in very different degrees and under very different 
circumstances. Education should note that they are 
doing them. It should further note that sometimes 
they are doing them well and sometimes badly, with 
an average which tends to be mediocre. They are not 
things which are to be done with great skill. When- 
ever they are of this latter character they are to be left 
to the specialist. Many, perhaps most, however, could 
be performed much better than at present, and this 
without any attempt to develop an impossible degree 
of skill. 
. In the following incomplete list we have set down 
those activities which may frequently or occasionally 
be performed in unspecialized ways by men, by women, 
or by both. 


186 


800. 


801. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


IX. UNspPEctIALIZED PractricaL LABORS 


Ability to use all common kinds of measuring devices: 
measures of length, area, volume, capacity, weight, 
time, value, temperature, specific gravity, etc. 


Ability to sharpen, adjust, clean, lubricate, replace 
worn or broken parts and otherwise keep household and 
garden tools and appliances in good order and good 
working condition. 


. Ability to make repairs, adjustments, and additions to 


the house and its equipment. 

(1) Putting up shelving or extra hooks, ete., in the 
clothes closet. 

(2) Window sereens: making, mending, cleaning, 
painting, fitting, placing, storing, ete. 

(3) Adjusting window stops to prevent rattling. 

(4) Replacing broken window panes. 

(5) Rehanging the window weights where cords are 
broken. 

(6) Adjusting doors so as to make them fit and hang 
properly. 

(7) Putting up window shades; and fixtures for cur- 
tains. 


(8) Repairing leaks in roofs. 
(9) farring roofs, gutters, etc. 
(10) Inclosing a porch with sereen. 
(11) Inclosing a sleeping-porch with protections that 
will operate easily and effectively. 
(12) Fitting up rooms in basement or attie for gym- 
nasium or boys’ club. 
(13) Stmple painting, varnishing, whitewashing; pre- 
paring surfaces for the work; care of materials. 
(14) Putting up and taking down awnings. 
(15) Replacmg missig or worn-out boards in porch 
floors or steps. 


(16) Renewing worn-out fuller-balls in the water 
faucets. 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 187 


(17) Putting on door-bolts and chains, special locks, 
etc: 
(18) Laying carpets, linoleum, ete. 
(19) Laying a cement floor in cellar, basement, or 
garage. 
803. Ability to repair, adjust, and sometimes to construct 
household furniture or other equipment. 
(1) The mending of furniture. 
(2) The making of simple pieces of furniture. 
(3) The making and mending of toys and other play 
equipment. 
(4) Readjusting of dresser and table drawers, etc., 
making them properly fit. 
(5) Making pads and covers for porch furniture. 
(6) Framing pictures. 
(7) Making ordinary kinds of curtains. 
(8) Renewing gas mantles, burners, etc. 


804. Ability to participate intelligently in the original 
planning of one’s home. 

(1) Judging the suitability of home sites of different 
types and locations. 

(2) Reading architectural plans. 

(3) Planning a house in its general arrangements. 

(4) Selecting adequate kitchen equipment; and 
planning arrangement from the point of view of 
convenience and economy. 

(5) Selecting household linens. 

(6) Planning the equipment of a home from the 
standpoint of beauty, durability, and service; and 
for a specified sum. 

(7) Selecting and hanging pictures so that they con- 
tribute the maximum of esthetic effect in the 
furnishing of the home. 

(8) Arranging furniture so as to have the maximum 


comfort and convenience and the most pleasing 
effect. 


188 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(9) Selecting furniture, draperies, floor-coverings, 
decorations, etc., from the point of view of 
economy, durability, and serviceability. 

(10) Choosing the decorations of rooms, wall paper, 
draperies, pictures, rugs, furniture, etc., so that 
the whole will comply with the principles of 
household design. 

805. Ability to operate household equipment. 

(1) The operation of furnace, boiler, stove, or what- 
ever means is employed for supplying the heat of 
the home. 

(2) Management of the ventilation arrangements. 

(3) Operating hot-water heaters. 

(4) Adjusting the gas and air mixture in the gas 
range. 

(5) Operation and care of the plumbing fixtures in 
the house. 

(6) All activities included in closing up a home for 
a period of absence. 

806. Ability to keep the house, premises, and equipment, 
house utensils and appliances clean and sanitary. 

(1) The cleaning of the house. 

(2) The tasks involved in preventing the house be- 
coming unclean. 

(3) Polishing and other special care of floors and 
furniture. 

(4) Cleaning of carpets and rugs. 

(5) Washing windows. 

(6) Cleaning wall paper. 

(7) The care of cupboards and cabinets, keeping 
them clean and neat. 

(8) Keeping the silver and other metal ware properly 
cleaned and polished. 

(9) Proper care and cleaning of cut glass. 

(10) Removing stains from floors, furniture, ete. 

(11) Keeping all the mechanical appliances of the 
home clean and in good working condition. 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 189 


(12) Keeping the air of the home, clean, pure, and of 
proper temperature. 


(13) Control of dust. 
(14) Using a vacuum cleaner. 
(15) Sanitary care of sinks, toilets, and lavatories. 
(16) Extermination and prevention of houseflies, 
cockroaches, rats, mice, ants, ete. 
(17) Sanitary care of the garbage. 
(18) Keeping the basement properly cooled, venti- 
lated, and cleaned. 
807. Ability to keep the house in good order. 
(1) Keeping everything in its proper place. 
(2) The making of beds, and general care of the 
linen, covers, mattresses. 
(3) Filing clippings, letters, and articles worth 
keeping. 
(4) Keeping clocks wound and regulated and pro- 
tected from dust and gases. 


808. Ability to care for and operate the electrical system 
and appliances in one’s home; and to make certain 
simple repairs, adjustments, or replacements. 

(1) Operation and care of the electrical lighting 
system of the house. 

(2) Cutting off the electric current from the house 
by means of the proper switch. 

(3) Renewing burnt-out fuse plugs in the electric 
wiring system. 

(4) Renewing worn-out brushes in household electric 
motors. 

(5) Joining wires and otherwise repairing broken 
electric circuits. 

(6) Operation, adjustment, lubrication, simple re- 
pair, etc., of household electric appliances: elec- 
tric iron, washing machine, fan, toaster, heater, 
vacuum cleaner, sewing machine, telephone, etc. 

(7) The care of electric batteries. 

(8) Keeping doorbells in proper working order. 


190 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(9) Connecting up and using a “reducer” in the 
operation of special types of ornamental lights, 
toy-motors, etc. 


(10) Reading the electric meter. 


(11) Locating the difficulty when any portion of the 
electric system goes wrong. 


(12) Operating and dealing with the various electrical 
appliances, wiring, and connections without 
danger of accident or shock. 


(13) Insulating electric wires. 
(14) Construction, installation, and maintenance of 
home radio apparatus. 
809. Ability to protect the home from fire. 
(1) Operating a fire-extinguisher. 
(2) Turning in a fire alarm. 


(3) Preventing the accumulation of waste materials 
in which fires may easily be started. 


(4) Safeguarding of matches, electric wiring, flues, 
and other places where fires may start. 


(5) Special care of gasoline, kerosene, gas and other 
easily inflammable materials. 


(6) Care and proper storing of fuel. 
(7) Extermination of rats and mice. 
(8) Use of fire-escapes. 


(9) Careful regulation of all heating, lighting, and 
cooking mechanisms at night or during absence, 
in view of safety. 


810. Ability to perform the operations involved in the care 
of the premises and garden. 

(1) Planting and care of lawn. 

(2) The care of the vegetable garden: preparing the 
soil, planting, cultivating, watering, protecting 
from weeds, insect enemies, fungi, etc., harvest- 
ing, storing, etc. 


(3) The planting and care of flowers, trees, shrubs, 
ornamental plants, ete. 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 191 


(4) Arranging ornamental plants in accordance with 
the principles of decorative design. 

(5) Planting and cultivation of fruit trees, vines, 
small fruits, ete. 

(6) Transplanting small plants. 

(7) Spraying of trees, shrubs, garden plants, ete. 
Destruction of plant and animal parasites. 

(8) Making trellises for vines, grape arbors, ete. 

(9) Watering, sprinkling, or in dry regions, irriga- 
tion. 

(10) Picking, packing, storing, etc., of fruits. 

(11) Seed testing. 

(12) Making and using a hotbed; or a cold frame. 

(13) Caring for potted flowers and plants. 

(14) Cutting flowers, and arranging for decorative 
purposes. 

(15) The destruction of weeds and weed seeds on 
property for which one is responsible. 

(16) The elimination of breeding places of flies, mos- 
quitoes, and vermin of every sort upon premises 
for which one is responsible. 

(17) The care of insect-destroying wild birds. 

(18) Care and repair of garden hose. 

(19) Conservation and composting of leaves, lawn 
clippings, ete. 

(20) Protection of one’s property from erosion. 

(21) The building of fences and gates; and keeping 
them in proper order. 

(22) Construction and repair of walks on the premises. 

(23) Setting posts and arranging clotheslines. 

(24) The disposal of rubbish of every kind. 

(25) Keeping that portion of landscape for which one 
is responsible attractive to the eye. 

(26) Keeping the premises free from dust in dry 
season. 

(27) Doing one’s part in keeping street, alley, road, 
etc., clean and sanitary. 


192 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(28) The control of smoke for which one is responsible. 

(29) Making tennis courts or other private play- 
grounds, and keeping them in good condition. 

(30) Constructing and placing home playground 
equipment. 

(31) Protecting, cleaning, and repairing wells and 
cisterns, — where they must be used. 


(32) Removal of débris after storm from sidewalks, 
driveways, gutters, etc., about one’s premises. 
Clearing walks of snow and ice. 


811. Ability to care for pets or other live animals. 
(1) Care of dogs, cats, or other pets. 
(2) The care of poultry. 
(3) The care of an incubator. 
(4) Care of hares and rabbits. 
(5) The care of a horse. 
(6) Care and milking of a cow. 
(7) Care of goats. 
(8) The building of pens and enclosures for pets. 


812. Ability to perform the various activities involved in 
traveling and outdoor life. 

(1) Driving a motor-car. 

(2) Caring for a motor-car: lubrication, making ad- 
justments, cleaning, renewing simple accessible 
worn parts, mending and changing tires, etc. 

(3) Packing a trunk for traveling, and attending to 
the transfer and checking. 

(4) Keeping trunks, suitcases, and traveling-bags in 
good repair. 

(5) The interpretation of city, railway, and motor 
guides. 

(6) Finding one’s way about a strange city. 

(7) Amateur photography. 

(8) Rowing a boat. 

(9) Operating and caring for a motor-boat. 

(10) Horseback riding. Driving horses. 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 193 


(11) Performing the numerous labors involved in 
camping. 

(12) Observing traffic regulations and all rules of the 
road. 

(13) Notification of authorities of, and placing warn- 
ing at, any place made dangerous by storm, ac- 
cident, ete. 

(14) Aiding in conservation of forests and any other 


natural resources with which one comes in con- 
tact. 


813. Ability wisely to select garments. 

(1) Recognition of commonly used textiles. 

(2) Judging textiles from the point of view of dura- 
bility and general serviceableness. 

(3) Choosing clothing suitable to occasion, weather, 
and health. 

(4) Selecting clothing that is becoming in line, con- 
struction, color, and texture, and within one’s 
means. 

(5) Selecting appropriate clothing accessories. 

(6) Selecting shoes that are satisfactory from the 
standpoints of hygiene, appearance, and appro- 
priateness to use. 

(7) Planning a clothing budget that will not exceed 
a just proportion of one’s total expenditures. 

(8) Planning children’s wardrobes. 


814. Ability to design, select the materials, make, mend, 
and alter clothing. 

(1) Doing common kinds of hand sewing. 

(2) Doing common kinds of machine sewing. 

(3) Performing various fundamental sewing activ- 
ities — basting, hemming, tucking, gathering, 
putting on bindings, making buttonholes, sewing 
on buttons, hooks and eyes, making various kinds 
of seams. 

(4) Caring for, adjusting, and operating in all desir- 
able ways an improved type of sewing machine. 


194 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM ° 


(5) The miscellaneous mending of garments. 


(6) Alterations of ready-made garments. Making 
over used garments. 


(7) Seeing possibilities of remodeling clothes. 
(8) Recognition of commonly used textile materials. 


(9) Judging textile materials as to durability, attrac- 
tiveness, practical economy, ete. 


(10) Testing materials for quality of fiber and weave. 


(11) Designing garments that accord with the prin- 
ciples of design. 


(12) Judging of appropriateness of fashion design to 
material. 


(13) Taking measurements. 


(14) Using a dress form in designing and fitting of 
garments. 


(15) Selecting embroideries and laces with a view to 
their durability when being washed. 

(16) Shrinking materials. 

(17) Using commercial patterns. 


(18) Sketching garments seen in order to reproduce 
them. 


(19) Reading a picture in a fashion book. 
(20) Calculating amounts of material needed. 


(21) Cutting and matching material having a nap; 
also stripes, plaids, and figures. 


(22) Putting collar on garment, hanging skirts, put- 
ting in sleeves, mitering corners, putting a belt on 
a skirt, putting on braids and finishing a garment. 


(23) Trimming hats; making alteration in hats. 

(24) Making a hat on a commercial frame. 

(25) Making a hat frame. 

(26) Crocheting, knitting, embroidering, and beading. 
(27) Renovating old and faded garments by dyeing. 


815. Ability to care for one’s clothing. 


(1) Keeping clothes properly put away when not in 
use. 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 195 


(2) Storage of clothes during the summer for protec- 
tion from moths. 

(3) Keeping clothes properly brushed, pressed, etc. 

(4) Keeping one’s shoes clean and in proper order. 

(5) Packing garments for traveling so that they will 
not lose their shapes. 


816. Ability to perform the laundry and other cleaning ac- 
tivities of the home. 

(1) The washing of clothes, including wringing, dry- 
ing, and ironing. 

(2) Doing delicate laundering, as of delicate cur- 
tains, dresses, etc. 

(3) Washing gingham and other colored cotton 
fabrics with a minimum amount of injury to the 
color. 

(4) Washing wool. 

(5) Removing grease spots and stains. 

(6) Using an electric washing machine, keeping it 
oiled, renewing parts worn out. 

(7) Caring for a laundry and its equipment with a 
minimum expenditure of time and energy. 

(8) Cleaning of clothes by dry cleaning process. 

(9) Choosing soap or other cleansing agent which is 
best for the work in hand. 

(10) The making of washing fluids. 


817. Ability to perform the various activities involved in 
providing the family with food. 
(1) Planning meals with a view to dietary value, 
palatability, and ease of preparation. 
(2) Planning meals for a family of varying ages, ac- 
tivities, and conditions of health. 
(3) Buying food intelligently: 
a. Foods in seasons. 
b. Reliable brands. 
e. Proper cuts of meat. 
d. Best for money. 


196 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


e. Proper amounts, considering storage. 
f. Proper prices. 
g. Avoiding adulterants. 
(4) Preparing meals with a proper expenditure of 
time, energy, and materials. 
(5) Preservation and care of perishable foods. 
(6) Serving a meal with a minimum expenditure of 
time and energy. 
(7) Making the table and food attractive. 
(8) Putting the table linen away and keeping it in 
proper order. 
(9) Washing dishes and cooking utensils. 
(10) Putting away dishes and cooking utensils and 
keeping them in proper order. 
(11) Proper care of dish-washing materials and appli- 
ances. 
(12) The care of the refrigerator and of the current 
perishable food supply. 
(13) Protecting drinking water, milk, etc., from possi- 
bility of contamination. 
(14) Preparing and packing lunches. 
(15) Choosing a well-balanced meal in a public eating 
place. 


(16) The canning and preserving of fruits and vege- 
tables. 


(17) Drying fruits. 

(18) Making and bottling fruit juices. 

(19) Making confections. 

(20) Selecting proper utensils for preparation of food. 
(21) Using a fireless cooker. 


(22) Regulating a gas oven and securing the required 
heat. 


(23) Using a thermometer in food preparation. 
(24) The systematic filing of cooking recipes. 


(25) Enlarging or decreasing common recipes to meet 
family needs. 


(26) Planning special dietaries. 
(27) Preparing food for the sick. 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES 197 


818. Ability to perform the several activities involved in a 
proper care of the person. 

(1) Care of the nails: manicuring, etc. 

(2) Care of the hair: arranging, brushing, shampoo- 
ing, ete. 

(3) Care of the teeth. 

(4) Care of the skin. 

(5) Shaving, and keeping appliances in order. 

(6) Simple massaging, etc. 

(7) Keeping toilet articles in order and in good con- 
dition. 


819. An amateur ability to do productive, creative, or inter- 
pretative work in the field of the fine arts. 

(1) Singing. 

(2) Playing a musical instrument. 

(3) Literary production of different kinds. 

(4) Taking part in dramatics, theatricals, pageants, 
etc. 

(5) Drawing or painting. 

(6) Designing, shaping, decorating, and otherwise 
finishing pottery or other works of ceramic art. 

(7) Designing: dress design, house design, landscape 
design, advertising design, ete. 


820. Ability to perform the simple business operations in- 
volved in the conduct of personal and family 
affairs. 

(1) Managing a bank checking account. 

(2) Managing a savings bank account. 

(3) Wisely investing one’s savings. Avoiding the 
pitfalls of investment. 

(4) Wisely laying out one’s income so as to secure 
maximum values. Budgeting individual and 
family expenditures. 

(5) Keeping account of individual and family expen- 
ditures. 

(6) Doing the marketing for the household. 


198 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(7) Judging the qualities of things; and the probable 
justice of the prices when buying. 

(8) Doing one’s ordinary buying with economy of 
time and effort. 

(9) Buying in quantities; and keeping necessary 
materials on hand. 

(10) Evaluating advertising. 

(11) Checking up monthly bills in connection with 
payment of same. 

(12) Checking household purchases for accuracy in 
weight and measure, etc., in connection with the 
payment of the bills. 

(13) Checking up the reading of the meters for gas, 
electricity, water, etc., in connection with the 
payment of the bills. 

(14) Making out and checking up laundry slips. 

(15) Drawing up or filling out business forms in com- 
mon use. 

(16) Wisely protecting one’s self and family by means 
of insurance. 

(17) Sending money by bank draft; money order; 
registered letter or telegraph. 

(18) The boxing, crating, or otherwise making up 
packages for parcel post or express. 

(19) Ordering goods by mail. 

(20) Procuring and using traveler’s checks, letters of 
credit, and similar devices. 

(21) Selling or disposing profitably of one’s auto- 
mobile, horse, house, garden produce or other 
products of home activities. 

(22) Disposing in proper ways of things no longer 
useful: outworn clothing, furniture, tools, 
machines, bottles, rags, old iron, and wastes of 
every kind. 

(23) Making change with a reasonable degree of 
rapidity. 


CHAPTER XII 
UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ARTS OF MEN 


YerArs ago laymen encouraged the introduction of 
manual training because of its vocational appearances. 
School men justified its introduction on the ground 
of formal discipline; and later, on the basis of its value 
for vocational choices and guidance. 

Now everybody is disillusioned. ‘The manual train- 
ing is not vocational training. For this reason it no 
longer receives the support of laymen. On the pro- 
fessional side, as men come to think accurately in 
terms of human functions and the preparation for 
specific functions, the formal discipline argument is no 
longer serviceable. Even if there be a certain amount 
of transfer, it is not the thing to be depended upon. 
Functions are to be developed through exercise of 
function and not through something else. And further 
we are discovering that the manual training as “ex- 
ploratory”’ basis for vocational guidance is not very 
serviceable. The result is that neither laymen nor 
school men see any great amount of value in the 
manual training of the type introduced two or three 
decades ago. 

It survives, however, through the inertia of edu- 
cational affairs. There are the shops, and what else is 
to be done with them except to continue the original 
courses for which they were constructed and equipped? 


200 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


} 


But this cannot continue. The shop-work for boys 
must prepare in some way for actual functions of men 
or it will be abolished. If the older arguments can- 
not stand the test of experience, and if there are no 
new ones forthcoming, then this non-vocational shop- 
work must disappear. ‘Time and money are needed 
for things of proven worth. 

In the judgment of the writer the practical arts 
training for boys can be justified upon two major bases: 

1. It can be training for unspecialized practical 
activities of sorts suggested in the foregoing chap- 
ter; and for reasons there presented. 

2. It gives a certain amount of concrete insight into 
the nature of tools, machines, forces, appliances, raw 
materials, processes, etc., employed in a number of oc- 
cupational fields. As a portion of the social training, 
it is obvious that men should be brought to an under- 
standing of the broad differentiated world of economic 
production and distribution. ‘This understanding is 
to be developed mainly through observation, reading 
and discussion. Rightly, however, to know the solid 
realities, one needs laboratory or workshop contacts 
with them. It is not practically possible to put boys 
for short periods into a large number of occupations by 
way of familiarizing them with the machinery, raw 
materials and processes. It is however possible in the 
school-shops, which under the circumstances would 
best be called laboratories, to give them short inten- 
sive courses for two weeks, a month, or other short 
period, for bringing them into contacts with things in- — 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ARTS OF MEN 201 


volved in different occupations. It is laboratory ex- 
perience for the sake of the social studies and in part 
possibly for the applied sciences. 

It is easily possible to combine the two purposes 
which we have just mentioned in the organization of a 
single series of courses which can develop a certain 
amount of concrete occupational understanding at the 
same time that it trains for unspecialized practical 
arts. 

The knowledge of occupations referred to prepares 
one for choice of occupation. So far as the laboratory 
portion of the study of occupations assists one to a 
genuine knowledge of those occupations, it can be of 
service for vocational choices and guidance. 

If the major purposes here presented are justified by 
analyses of community needs, then the practical arts 
courses for boys should be continued in the public 
school curriculum. It is clear, however, that the 
courses should be very different from the older and 
still persistent type of manual training for boys. The 
courses needed must bear relatively little resemblance 
to those older courses. The objectives are different. 
The procedures must be different. The whole spirit 
and relation of the work must be different. 

It is indispensable that the progressive-minded 
curriculum-maker formulate a platform of general 
principles or assumptions which he can employ for 
guidance in this baffling field. We present the follow- 
ing as a starting-point at least for the formulation of 
such a series of basic assumptions. 


202 


10. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


. The practical arts course should train men for per- 


forming definite practical functions. 


. The practical activities of men for which the practical 


arts training is to prepare should be definitely known 
before any course is drawn up. 


. The “faith aims” and “formal discipline hopes” of the 


old manual training courses are too vague and insub- 
stantial to serve as practical arts objectives. 


. Practical arts courses for the general training of men 


are not vocational courses. They are not designed to 
prepare for any specialized vocation. 


. Practical arts courses in general education are in part 


to prepare for unspecialized activities which are gen- 
erally desirable regardless of the occupation into which 
one goes. 


. The things most to be emphasized in the training are 


those which boys and men do least well in their home 
activities. The diagnostic method of discovering short- 
comings in practical performance will be employed in 
discovering the objectives. 


. In unspecialized matters, practical skill, habits and 


right attitudes toward the work are more important 
than technical knowledge. The training should there- 
fore look most fully to developing habits, attitudes, and 
practical skill, giving only that minimum of technical 
knowledge which is demonstrably necessary. 


. For the general training in this field, there is no reason 


for the school’s attempting to develop any high degree 
of operative skill. 


. The theory of thorough specialized vocational training 


for production has too greatly dominated most general 
non-vocational practical arts training. 

Operating, caring for, adjusting, and repairing things 
are more important practical operations for men in 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ARTS OF MEN 203 


ai: 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


1 lyf 


18. 


19. 


general under present conditions than making things in 
unspecialized ways. 


Choosing things as a consumer is a practical task more 
important than making or repairing things in unspecial- 
ized ways. 


The awakening of interests, right attitudes, and sense 
of responsibility should be matters of central aim. 


Since practical unspecialized activities should be re- 
sponsibilities of all men, they should be a portion of the 
basic general training. 


Education should aim consciously to prepare men for 
enough home labors to offset the disintegrative effects 
upon the home of over-specialization. 


The practical arts courses will also in part aim at gen- 
eral industrial insight and understanding, thus assist- 
ing in preparing for choice of vocation and for civic 
duties. 


The short-unit practical arts courses are specially help- 
ful in giving a boy a large portion of the concrete alpha- 
bet, so to speak, of the vast and to him endlessly im- 
portant world of productive industry. The ones to be 
given, therefore, should be in part chosen on the basis 
of the relative importance of the occupations. The 
other major basis is value for unspecialized abilities. 
On these two bases should the short-unit courses be 
chosen. 


The abilities to perform unspecialized practical labors 
are to be developed in ways and under conditions in 
which they are to function, — as nearly as practicable. 


In large measure the introductory training for unspe- 
cialized activities will take the form of short exploratory 
courses and thus care for two aspects of general training 
at the same time. 


For the unspecialized activities, the tools and appli- 
ances used should be similar to those which ought to 
be found in and about a properly equipped home. The 


204 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


25. 


26. 


27. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


elaborate equipment of specialized industry is quite in- 
appropriate. 


Practical unspecialized activities should be performed 
where the activities are normal, usually at home as 
fully as practicable. 


Since self-directed performance under normal condi- 
tions contains educational elements which usually can- 
not be provided in the academic atmosphere, this su- 
perior value should receive appropriate recognition. 


After the short-unit exploratory courses have given the 
alphabet of work in the field, training thereafter will 
depend mainly upon the actual performance of unspe- 
cialized home activities throughout the subsequent 
years of one’s education. It should be organized and 
supervised; and yet it cannot be a portion of the usual 
type of relatively short intensive school courses. It 
must be of individual, largely self-directed project 
type. 


Schools should not attempt to provide experiences 
which can better be provided in or about the homes. 


In preparing for home activities, the schools should 
demonstrate, explain, stimulate, and supervise. The 
practice should be obtained at home or other place 
where the work involves normal conditions and respon- 
sibility. 

Home activities should be seen by the boys as primarily 
the discharge of home responsibilities; and only sec- 
ondarily as training experiences. 


The work should expect every boy to acquire his own 
set of home tools and appliances and be responsible for 
them. 


In this field the training of different boys must differ 
according to the nature of the opportunities provided 
in the home and general community life. 


. Teacher-parent codperation in supervising the home 


training activities is indispensable. 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ARTS OF MEN 205 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


35. 


36. 


37. 


38. 


39. 


Parents need education of a type which is now largely 
lacking before they are fitted for properly codperating 
in carrying out such a program. 


The training should be so managed as to develop powers 
of self-direction. 


Printed guidance materials should be placed in the 
hands of boys and their parents. 


A thing does not necessarily cease to be educational 
when its informational possibilities are exhausted. 
The informational learning is only preparatory to ex- 
periences that lie beyond which look to habits, inter- 
ests, attitudes, ability to bear responsibility, and a 
general condition of mind. In the matter of the un- 
specialized activities, these latter are usually more im- 
portant than the informational. 


The theoretical information of types needed for guid- 
ance in the practical arts should be taken care of by the 
teachers of practical arts. They should be able to pre- 
suppose, however, that the necessary general founda- 
tion for the applied studies has been laid by the other 
departments. 


Direct observation of the occupational activities of the 
community should be as abundant as practicable. 


Observational activities are most effective when one is 
at the same time a participant bearing a portion of the 
responsibility. 


In the training for consumption, the observation and 
analyses of the products of the world of mdustry should 
be full and abundant. 


The direct observation should be fully supplemented by 
readings, pictures, charts, diagrams, etc., which reveal 
the world of productive industry. 


Interests should be awakened and right attitudes de- 
veloped through the use of stimulating readings. 


The practical arts training lies clearly upon the func- 


206 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


tional level; and yet a broad foundation should be laid 
for it upon the play-levei through constructive, opera- 
tive, participative, and observational activities. 


40. Training for the adult performance of unspecialized 
activities is really a phase of preparation of adult spare- 
time occupations. At no place along the line therefore 
should it depart too much from the spirit of leisure- 
time occupations. 


41. The unspecialized practical arts for boys should, for 
administrative effectiveness, be included in a single 
department. The present differentiation is due to the 
influence of the theory of vocational specialization. 
But this is not vocational training. 


Tur OBJECTIVES 


For several reasons it is not possible for the cur- 
riculum-maker to adopt the.series of unspecialized 
practical activities presented in the foregoing chapter 
as the objectives of this training: 

1. There is a certain amount of differentiation in the 
labors of men and women. Some of the activities 
there presented are appropriate for men, some for 
women, many for both men and women. The curricu- 
lum-maker here will select those which are appropriate 
for men. 

2. The list is incomplete. It is merely illustrative. 
It does not pretend to give any complete list of the 
practical unspecialized activities. Extensive surveys 
are needed. 

3. Even were it a complete catalogue of desirable 
unspecialized activities, there should also be other 
kinds of objectives beyond the field of unspecialized 
activities, — economic understanding, for example. 


UNSPECIALIZED PRACTICAL ARTS OF MEN 207 


4. The activities will vary from region to region 
with social class, community traditions, and natural 
environment. It is probable that in this field of train- 
ing there will be greater diversity among different 
schools than in any other field of the general training. 

We suggest as a starting-point, however, such a list 
of objectives as the following which are taken from the 
lists in Chapters II and XI. Workers in any partic- 
ular school system can eliminate anything which is not 
valid for their community, modify the things that are 
only partially valid, and add things omitted. They 
can then fill in the details according to the nature of 
their immediate situation. 


OBJECTIVES OF Practica, Arts oF Mren 

801. Ability to use all common kinds of measuring devices: 
measures of length, area, volume, capacity, weight, 
time, value, temperature, specific gravity, etc. 

802. Ability to sharpen, adjust, clean, lubricate, replace 
worn or broken parts, and otherwise keep household 
and garden tools and appliances in good order and good 
working condition. 

803. Ability to make repairs, adjustments, and additions to 
the house and its equipment. 

804. Ability to make repairs, adjustments, and sometimes to 
construct household furniture or other equipment. 

805. Ability to participate intelligently in the original plan- 
ning of one’s home. 


806. Ability to operate household equipment. 


807. Ability to keep the house, premises, and equipment 
clean and sanitary. (Divided between men and women.) 


808. Ability to keep the house in good order. (Divided.) 
809. Ability to care for and operate the electrical system 


208 


810. 
811. 


812. 
813. 


814. 
816. 
821. 


211. 
215. 


410. 


411. 


421. 


501. 


508. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


and appliances in one’s home; and to make certain sims 
ple repairs, adjustments, or replacements. 


Ability to protect the home from fire. 


Ability to perform the operations involved in the care 
of the premises and garden. 


Ability to care for pets or other live animals. 


Ability to perform the various activities involved in 
traveling and outdoor life. 


Ability wisely to select garments. (Divided.) 
Ability to care for one’s clothing. (Divided.) 


Ability to perform the simple business operations in- 
volved in the conduct of personal and family affairs. 


Disposition of the citizen as consumer to avoid waste. 


Ability wisely to choose a specialized occupation in 
which one can give good service to one’s self, to one’s 
family, and to society. 


Ability, disposition, and habit of taking up occasionally 
the systematic study of some new thing; and of explor- 
ing untried fields of human experience. 


A disposition toward experimentation, exploration, 
discovery, and invention, in those fields of one’s activ- 
ities and interests which permit initiative. 


Ability and disposition to participate in a variety of 
unspecialized practical activities as enjoyable and 
fruitful spare-time occupations. 


A proportioned intellectual apprehension, such as one’s 
natural capacities will permit, of the realities which 
make up the world of man’s life: 

(e) The specialized or functional groups — economic, 
political, religious, and the like — together with 
their special situations, activities, duties, rights, 
and relationships. 

(r) Man’s inventions and creations. 

Ability to judge one’s degree of fitness for the many 


possible specialized occupations; and for the several 
levels of proficiency in each. 


CHAPTER XIII 
PRACTICAL ARTS OF WOMEN 


In the beginning most practical activities were home 
activities. Members of the family themselves found or 
produced the raw materials of food, clothing, fuel, shel- 
ter, furniture, and the other necessities. From these 
raw materials, they themselves shaped the finished 
products. Most of these labors were performed by the 
women of the household; with the help of the children, 
under the direction of the women. A certain rough 
skill was needed. But the labors were numerous and 
diverse. There was no opportunity to specialize in any 
of them. Except as men and women did different 
types of labor, it was all unspecialized. Since that 
distant day most of man’s and many of woman’s labors 
have become specialized and have gone out of the 
homes into industry. ‘The raw materials of clothing 
are now prepared in the textile factories. The making 
of most garments for men, women, and children has 
been turned over in large measure to the clothing trades. 
Food preparation is largely given over to food manu- 
facturers, canners, bakers, confectioners, delicatessens 
and caterers. Home decoration is delegated to special- 
ized home decorators. Cleaning and laundry work is 
largely given over to the specialized cleaners and 
laundries. Obviously woman’s traditional work is go- 
ing the way of man’s work into specialized fields. It 


210 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


has, however, not yet gone so far. In most homes there 
remains a large remnant of woman’s former swollen 
repertory of unspecialized labors. ‘There is still much 
cooking, canning, cleaning, laundry, home sanita- 
tion, decoration, sewing, mending, garment alteration, 
garment-making, marketing, home nursing, and child 
care. 

For individual economy, social economy, maximum 
social productiveness, maximum social welfare“and for 
achieving our ever-rising standards of taste, it appears 
desirable that all labors of women requiring large skill 
or technical understanding should be turned over to 
specialized labor. For woman’s work in the home, this 
means that while she may continue to do a variety of 
things upon a level of moderate skill, whenever larger 
skill and technical understanding is required, she will 
not attempt them. This has profound significance for 
the problem of training of women for home occupations. 
The tendency in courses as now organized is to attempt 
a maximum amount of skill and technical understand- 
ing in the various lines of woman’s home work. The 
training appears to aim at that proficiency that is re- 
quired for a number of specialized vocations. This is 
to lay out for her a problem of home vocational training 
which is larger than that of the vocational training 
of specialized workers. We have here an instance of 
the results of confusing general education and vo- 
cational education. The standards are set up for the 
specialized training; and the practices developed for 
that training. Then these standards and practices are 


PRACTICAL ARTS OF WOMEN 211 


employed in accomplishing the general training of all 
women for varied occupations. This is a fallacy which 
the curriculum-maker will avoid. 

In certain respects the problem of the curriculum- 
maker here is easier than in the case of men. ‘The 
manual training has never looked to practical activities. 
But the training of girls in kitchens and sewing-rooms 
has always looked toward actual activities. The 
problem is further facilitated by the fact that there isa 
goodly amount of unspecialized activities remaining in 
the homes and that these activities are in some measure 
carried on in all homes. While there is diversity of 
practices, yet in the multitude of usual homes there 
is a large group of activities common to all women. 

On the other hand the curriculum-maker here meets 
unsolved problems of endless complexity. It is un- 
certain how far women should go in performing home 
occupations and in what degree they should turn them 
over to specialized industries. For example: 

1. To what extent should women and girls in the 
home do the family sewing and to what extent should 
it be left to the outside trades? 

2. To what extent should women do the family: 
cooking and other food-preparation, and to what ex- 
tent should foods be secured ready-prepared by those 
who are specially skillful, and who can utilize the social 
economics of large-scale production? 

3. How much, or what kinds, of the laundry work 
should they do at home, and what portion give over to 
the trade laundries? 


Q12 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


4. In what measure should they care for the house- 
hold equipment and contrivances, such as the electrical 
system and appliances, the plumbing system, vacuum 
cleaner, electric washing machine, the home heating 
system, etc.; and to what extent should these be left to 
the men of the household or to tradesmen? 

5. How much of the gardening, floriculture, and 
other outside activities, should she perform? 

6. To what extent should she perform simple matters 
of painting, papering, kalsomining, glazing, hanging of 
curtains, putting up household pictures which require 
the use of simple tools; and to what extent should these 
be left to specialists? 

7. To what extent should they perform labors in the 
training of their children and to what extent should this 
labor be turned over to specialized trainers of children? 

8. How far should they go in providing home recre- 
ations for the family and to what extent should these 
matters be left to outside amusement agencies? 

9. To what extent should she be responsible for the 
health care of the family, and in what degree should 
such matters be turned over to sanitarians, nurses, and 
physicians? 

10. How far should she go in taking care, in un- 
specialized ways, of religious training and activities, and 
to what extent should these matters be left to special- 
ized agencies outside the home? 

The curriculum-maker can answer with certainty no 
one of these questions for any woman; certainly not for 
the varying needs of all the women who make up the 


PRACTICAL ARTS OF WOMEN 213 


community. He cannot sufficiently see the place that 
the several girls he is training are going to occupy 
within the community life, there or elsewhere. Yet he 
must arrive at some kind of working decision in each 
of these matters before he can formulate the program 
of training. 

In the following list we have set down a composite 
series of unspecialized activities which have been 
mentioned at least with moderate frequency by several 
hundred women. It is probable that a majority 
of these things are valid for at least a majority of the 
women. 


OBJECTIVES OF PRAcTICAL ARTS FOR WOMEN 


801. Ability to use all common kinds of measuring devices: 
measures cf length, area, volume, capacity, weight, 
time, value, temperature, specific gravity, ete. 


802. Ability to sharpen, adjust, clean, lubricate, replace 
worn or broken parts and otherwise keep household 
and garden tools and appliances in good order and 
good working condition. (Divided between men and 
women.) 


803. Ability to make repairs, adjustments, and additions to 
the house and its equipment. (Divided.) 


804. Ability to make repairs, adjustments, and sometimes to 
construct household furniture or other equipment. 
(Divided.) 


805. Ability to participate intelligently in the original plan- 
ning of one’s home. 


806. Ability to operate household equipment. 


807. Ability to keep the house, premises, and equipment 
clean and sanitary. 


214 


808. 
809. 


410. 


411. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 
Ability to keep the house in good order. 


Ability to care for and operate the electrical system and 
appliances in one’s house; and to make certain simple 
repairs, adjustments, or replacements. (Divided.) 


. Ability to protect the home from fire. 


. Ability to perform the operations involved in the care of 


the premises and garden. (Divided.) 


. Ability to care for pets or other live animals. 


. Ability to perform the various activities involved in 


traveling and outdoor life. (Divided.) 


. Ability wisely to select garments. 


. Ability to design, select the materials, make, mend, and 


alter clothing. 


. Ability to care for one’s clothing. 


Ability to perform the laundry and other cleaning ac- 
tivities of the home. 


. Ability to perform the various activities involved in 


providing the family with food. 


. Ability to perform the several activities involved in a 


proper care of the person. 


. An amateur ability to do productive, creative, or inter- 


pretative work in the field of the fine arts. 


. Ability to perform the simple business operations in- 


volved in the conduct of personal and family affairs. 


. Disposition of the citizen as consumer to avoid waste. 


. Ability wisely to choose a specialized occupation in 


which one can give good service to one’s self, to one’s 
family, and to society. 


Ability, disposition, and habit of taking up occasionally 
the systematic study of some new thing; and of explor- 
ing untried fields of human experieace. 


A disposition toward experimentation, exploration, dis- 
covery, and invention in those fields of one’s activities 
and interests which permit initiative. 


421. 


501. 


508. 


PRACTICAL ARTS OF WOMEN 215 


Ability and disposition to participate in a variety of 
unspecialized practical activities as enjoyable and 
fruitful spare-time occupations. 


A proportioned intellectual apprehension, such as one’s 
natural capacities will permit, of the realities which 
make up the world of man’s life: 

(e) The specialized or functional groups — economic, 
political, religious, and the like — together with 
their special situations, activities, duties, rights, 
and relationships. 


(r) Man’s inventions and creations. 


Ability to judge one’s degree of fitness for the many 
possible specialized occupations; and for the several 
levels of proficiency in each. 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


. The practical arts training of women should seek to 


develop those abilities of every kind which are needed 
for the proper management of one’s home. 


. Education should aim consciously to prepare for enough 


home labors to offset the disintegrative effects upon the 
home of over-specialization. 


. The objectives and the degree of proficiency should 


differ according to the nature of the homes and the 
native capacities of the girls. 


. To awaken interests, right attitudes, and sense of re- 


sponsibility should in every case be a central aim. 


. The training should develop the abilities actually 


needed by the women of to-morrow; not those needed 
by the women of yesterday. 


. The home-occupations training should not aim to pre- 


pare for activities that require skill of high degree, dif- 
ficult to attain and to maintain. Those, in the main, 
should be left to outside industries. 


. In the matter of clothing, the ability to judge and select 


wisely is at present more important than the ability to 


216 


vo) 


10. 


11. 
12. 
138. 
14. 


15. 


16. 


iW 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


make clothing. This applies also to furniture, house- 
equipment, decoration, etc. 


As the purchasing members of the families, women 
should be competent judges of the offerings upon the 
market. 


They should be familiar with the tests or criteria to be 
employed in judging the quality of every usual kind of 
article. 


The things to be most emphasized in the training are, 
all else being equal, the things which the girls do least 
well in their actual home activities. The diagnostic 
method of discovering shortcomings will be employed. 


In home occupations, practical skill, habits, right atti- 
tudes, etc., are in the case of most things more im- 
portant than technical knowledge. 


The technical information given should be that which 
is actually needed for guidance of the practical activ- 


ities; all that is needed, but no more. 


Home-occupation training should not be “over-tech- 
nical”’ and “excessively wedded to book and labora- 
tory,”’ to the practical exclusion of home activities. 


Technical instruction much in advance of practical ap- 
plication is of little value. It is usually ineffective and 
wasteful; and often harmful. 


Technical instruction for guidance should mainly ac- 
company the practical work as an integral part of it. 


The theoretical information of applied type needed for 
guidance in the home occupations should be taken care 
of by the teachers of home occupations. ‘They should 
be able to presuppose, however, that the necessary gen- 
eral foundation for the applied studies has been laid by 
the other departments. 


The abilities to perform home occupations should be 
developed in ways and under conditions in which they 
are to function, — so far as practicable. 


18. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


25. 


26. 


PRACTICAL ARTS OF WOMEN 217 


The school should demonstrate. The practice should 
be obtained in the girls’ homes. 


The different types of home occupations should be or- 
ganized into intensive short-unit courses to be given 
when the girl has reached an age to undertake the prac- 
tical labors in her home. After the short-unit course is 
ended, the training will then be a matter of her home 
opportunities during the rest of her school life — for 
practice under normal conditions, and for maintenance. 


The short-unit preparatory courses may be organized 
spiral-fashion, more complex things being given on dif- 
ferent levels of maturity. In a completely developed 
system, the final laps in the spiral will come after the 
woman has her own home. 


A thing does not necessarily cease to be educational 
when its informational possibilities are exhausted. The 
informational learning is only preparatory to experi- 
ences that lie beyond which look to habits, interests, 
attitudes, ability to bear responsibility, and a general 
condition of mind. In the matter of the unspecialized 
activities, these latter are usually more important than 
the information. 


Self-directed parentally supervised home activities per- 
formed at home when of proper character contain train- 
ing elements which cannot be included in merely scho- 
lastic activities; they are therefore better, and should 
for that reason receive correspondingly higher credit. 


Home activities should be seen by the girls as primarily 
the discharge of home responsibilities; and only sec- 
ondarily as training experiences. 


Pupil-tasks, once begun, should be carried through 
speedily to completion, even if other things must wait 
for a time. 


Teacher-parent codperation in supervising home-train- 
ing activities is indispensable. 


Parents need education of a type which is now largely 


218 


Q7. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


35. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


lacking before they are fitted for properly codperating 
in carrying out such a program. 


In directing and supervising home projects it is very 
desirable that students, parents, and teachers have the 
guidance of carefully prepared printed materials. 


The training should be devised with a view to develop- 
ing power of unsupervised self-direction; and of power 
to self-judge the character of one’s labors. 


The training should involve much observation and 
analyses of things used in the home or by members of 
the family. 


It should involve much reading that reveals possible 
qualities and characters of things. 


The courses should include stimulating readings by 
way of developing interests and attitudes. 


In the training, there should be abundant use of pic- 
tures, charts, diagrams, etc., which show the possible 
qualities or characters of things. 


In studies of the qualities of things, the problem- 
method, and the application of general criteria, should 
be abundantly employed. 


The home-occupations training for girls lies clearly 
upon the functional level; and yet so far as practicable 
a broad foundation for it should be laid upon the play- 
level of constructive, operative, participative and ob- 
servational activities. 


Training for home occupations is needed by most or all 
girls. It should therefore be part of the general train- 
ing expected of all. 


CHAPTER XIV 
DRAWING, DESIGN, VISUAL ART 


Ler the reader visualize the activities of men and 
women in the houses of his neighbors down the street. 
How many of them do any drawing after they leave 
the public schools? How many of them have in their 
homes the necessary drawing paper, crayons, colors, 
and other materials? Asa matter of fact, outside of a 
few vocations which we are not here discussing, neither 
men nor women do any drawing that requires skill; 
and there is no evident reason why they should do so. 
So little is it a part of their lives that it would seem 
absurd to them to propose that all families should 
keep drawing materials in their homes to use as need 
requires. 

Properly to appreciate this situation let one con- 
trast it with handwriting. We teach handwriting be- 
cause we expect adults to use it throughout life; and 
we expect them in their homes to have pencils, pens, 
ink, and paper which they will frequently or occa- 
sionally use in the conduct of their affairs. In these 
matters, we know that we are upon solid ground. 
When drawing is compared with this, the contrast is 
striking. The men and women are trained in public- 
school drawing for skill in an art which they do not 
pursue. Under no conceivable circumstances can this 


220 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


or the next generation be conceived as doing drawing 
in their general or non-vocational affairs. 

Do men need drawing for unspecialized construc- 
tive activities? An examination of the list of unspe- 
cialized activities for men reveals few which call for 
any use of drawing or design. In the case of women, 
there are matters of garment design and household 
decoration. The tendency of the times is toward 
leaving matters which call for any subtle and complex 
design to specialized industry. Tastes are becoming 
so cultivated in all social classes that individuals are 
not satisfied with the skill to be expected of un- 
specialized labors. All applied art is becoming spe- 
cialized. The unspecialized activities relate them- 
selves to simple adjustments and arrangements — 
— matters which require judgment but not skill of 
execution. 

Looking further, the curriculum-maker will discern 
that the men and women of the community dwell 
within the midst of innumerable art forms. Our gar- 
ments, articles of furniture, lamps, clocks, book- 
covers, automobiles, the exterior and interior of our 
houses, even the billboards by the roadside, are 
shaped and colored to comply in some degree, small 
or large, with the principles of «esthetic design. Even 
the most utilitarian things are shaped and painted so 
as to please the eye. 

This is probably a healthy development. A world 
of beauty is stimulating. It inspires hopes, optimis- 
tic attitudes, and vigor of action. A world of ugliness 


DRAWING, DESIGN, VISUAL ART 221 


is depressing. It generates apathy and indifference. 
It paralyzes effort. 

It would seem then that individuals should be sen- 
sitive to and appreciative of the better forms of art in 
the things of their environment. As consumers they 
should be prepared to choose things of good design 
and reject those of poor design; and thus gradually 
create through their choices a world in which beauty 
prevails and ugliness is reduced to a minimum. 

This does not require skill in drawing or in other 
form of visual art. It calls rather for sensitiveness of 
appreciation and powers of judgment. The producer 
we shall continue to train intensively in vocational 
courses for production; but people in general we shall 
train for consumption. It is difficult to find any other 
ways in which the visual art abilities function, or 
should function, in the general community life. The 
major objectives must be the ability to choose and use 
those things which embody the higher and better art 
motives. Education is to aim at power to judge the 
relative esthetic qualities of different forms, designs, 
tones, and colors. Skill in drawing and design does not 
find a place as one of the objectives. 

There is, however, a possibility to be considered. 
Should one develop some amateur ability to draw and 
design as a means of developing art appreciations and 
powers of judgment? ‘This is urged by some, but not 
all, drawing specialists. 

In considering this contention, one should note that 
it is experience with high forms of art which will en- 


222 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


able one to see the principles of art at their highest and 
to have the esthetic experiences of highest and best 
type. This being the case, quite obviously the crude 
art forms which are produced by the amateur cannot 
effectively serve the purpose. 

One need not be a musical composer to appreciate 
music of high quality. One need not construct a 
motor-car of good design in order to appreciate good 
design in motor-cars; nor a beautiful building in 
order to appreciate beauty in architecture; nor a pleas- 
ing landscape in order to take pleasure in pleasant 
landscapes. 

If one would develop a high appreciation of or- 
chestral music, let us say, the major experience must 
be listening to orchestral music, on numerous occa- 
sions, and through many years. He cannot play it 
himself — at best he could never perform more than a 
limited portion of it. Not productive effort, but 
rather entering fully into the experiences, develops the 
appreciations. 

It is the same with visual art. One needs to have 
his consciousness saturated by living for years in the 
presence of art forms of good quality. The apprecia- 
tions will grow up unconsciously and inevitably; and 
they will be normal and relatively unsophisticated. 
As a matter of fact, art to be most enjoyed, and to be 
most serviceable, should not be too conscious. 

As one is exposed through years to these visual 
forms it is possible to analyze them as far as needful 
into their esthetic factors or elements by way of de- 


DRAWING, DESIGN, VISUAL ART 223 


veloping all of the needful intellectual apprehension 
of the esthetic principles. It seems that one should 
have some knowledge of the principles of art and de- 
sign. This appears to be needed now and then when 
the consumer is unable to make decision on the basis 
of his likes and dislikes and wishes to fall back upon 
impersonal criteria of judgment relative to form, tone, 
design, or color. It seems that this need not be ex- 
tensive. The amount that is needed by the consumer 
can evidently be acquired within a comparatively 
short time on the basis of the concrete xsthetic ex- 
periences which should be continuous throughout one’s 
educational career. 

If the objectives of the art training for people in gen- 
eral is what we have specified, then obviously the usual 
program will be one of surrounding them within the 
school as abundantly as practicable with objects 
which embody the esthetic motives in the highest 
practicable degree: textbooks, interior decoration of 
rooms, pictures, furnishings of every kind, the ap- 
pointments of corridors, auditoriums, gymnasiums, 
laboratories, workshops, exterior architecture, play- 
grounds, landscape effects, etc. By arranging many 
of these things on different patterns for different 
grades and rooms, it is possible for the school environ- 
ment to be a living and practical museum of applied 
art. We are here dealing, however, with another one 
of those matters in which the fundamental experiences 
will in large measure be found distributed through- 
out the community life. In their homes, churches, 


224 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


motion-picture theaters, on the street, and in the 
parks they will be continuously confronted with these 
omnipresent works of man’s art. ‘This incessant ex- 
perience can be utilized as means of developing sensi- 
tiveness to beauty and to ugliness; and so far as need- 
ful as the basis for an intellectual understanding of the 
art principles involved. 

The curriculum-maker must make allowance for 
native individual differences. Some are so endowed 
that they can easily be brought to high and delicate 
appreciations; others with more effort will yet attain 
a lower level; still others are so insensitive to matters 
of form and color that even great effort can accom- 
plish relatively little. Education cannot therefore 
aim at uniform objectives, nor employ uniform pro- 
cedures. Each group must be trained according to its 
possibilities. 

It was mainly the vocational argument which 
originally placed drawing, design, and applied art in 
the public-school curriculum. Influential manufac- 
turers and merchants observed that the commercial 
products of the mills and looms and factories of 
Europe were superior in sesthetic design to those of 
our own country. ‘The patterns of American-made 
wall-papers, rugs, laces, hangings, cloths, furniture, 
etc., were primitive and crude as compared with the 
corresponding products of Europe. It was ascer- 
tained that in Europe the workmen, especially the de- 
signers, had been carefully and intensively trained in 
the theory and practices of art and applied design. 


DRAWING, DESIGN, VISUAL ART 225 


This was the explanation of the esthetic superiority 
of their product. “Therefore,” said these practical 
merchants and manufacturers, “let us give drawing 
and design to the children in our public schools and 
they too will be efficient designers when they reach the 
factories.” As a consequence of this demand, draw- 
ing Is now given in most city public schools and it is re- 
quired more or less uniformly of all children. Ten or 
fifteen millions of children are receiving drawing in 
consequence of a vocational demand for a few thou- 
sand designers. It is doubtful if we can afford so ex- 
pensive a method of training our designers. 

Vocational training should be specific. It should 
train an individual for what he needs in the one voca- 
tion that he is entering. It is not to be given to those 
who are not entering that vocation. It should be in- 
tensive and thorough. It is not to be toyed with by 
those who are not taking it seriously. 

Naturally professional draftsmen and designers 
need long and intensive training in drawing and de- 
sign. We are not here considering, however, this vo- 
cational training; but rather the general training in art 
of the total population. 


OBJECTIVES OF VIsuAL ART 
A. In the basic training: 


401. Ability, disposition, and habit of diversified ob- 
servation of men, things, and affairs as an enjoy- 
able and fruitful leisure occupation. 


403. Ability profitably to utilize pictures, and other 
visual modes of representation, as means of 2n- 
direct observation of men, things, and affairs. 


226 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


414, Ability to utilize the products of the visual arts 
as sources of enjoyable and profitable esthetic 
experiences. 


310. Ability in dress and otherwise to maintain a 
proper personal appearance. 


311. Ability to create and maintain a homelike and 
hospitable atmosphere about the place in which 
one lives. 


805. Ability to participate intelligently in the original 
planning of one’s home. 


501. A proportioned intellectual apprehension, such as 
one’s natural capacities will permit, of the reali- 
ties which make up the world of man’s life: 


(q) The world of form, color, visual art. 


B. Additional, when an extra: 


819 (5) Amateur ability to draw or paint. 
819 (6) Amateur skill in ceramic art. 
819 (7) Amateur ability to design. 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


. All men and women need a considerable understanding 


and appreciation of what constitutes beauty and ugli- 
ness in form, tone, and color in the things which make 
up their visual environment. ‘Training for these mat- 
ters should therefore be a part of that general training 
which is expected of everybody. 


. Except as art training is vocational, the major purpose 


is preparing individuals for the uses of art products, 
not for producing them. 


. Outside of vocational training, most art training will be 


for judgment and appreciation, not for skill. 


. For one’s general purposes, the main thing is to think 


and to judge and to enjoy, not to create or produce art 
forms. 


10. 


ll. 


12. 


DRAWING, DESIGN, VISUAL ART 227 


. In this field as in every other, one learns to judge by 


judging, to think by thinking, to apply general prin- 
ciples by applying general principles. 


. Opportunities will be offered students for short-unit 


courses in productive art which give that minimum that 
is helpful to understanding, and which give an oppor- 
tunity to talented ones to discover their possibilities. 


. Outside of their vocations, and except for a few more or 


less unusual individuals, men and women do no draw- 
ing or designing which requires any appreciable degree 
of skill. 


. Unused drawing skill atrophies and disappears, — es- 


pecially when the training ends upon the elementary 
school level. 


. Education is not warranted in developing any type of 


skill on the elementary level which is not to be main- 
tained through the later years of one’s education, and 
which is not to be functional upon the adult level. 
(This is to be interpreted so as to allow for certain de- 
ciduous skills involved in plays and games good for 
growth at the time but not carried forward to adult- 
hood.) 


An ability once developed on the elementary school 
level should be maintained through the later years of 
one’s education, either through continuity of use of 
that ability or through further conscious education or 
both. (This naturally is to be interpreted in the light 
of the individual’s changing nature as he matures.) 


Those who show no promise of skillful execution should 
be excused from the productive side of the training as 
soon as this is discovered, and trained merely as “‘con- 
sumers.” 


There should be an abundance of concrete observa- 
tion: studying things in the environment; analyzing 
them into their elements; judging them in terms of 
principles; making ‘“‘visual-art surveys” of many, 
many things. 


228 
13 


14 


15. 


16. 


Ly: 


18. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Classified sets of pictures should be used in studying 
things to which principles of art have been applied. 


There should be an abundance of fully illustrated read- 
ings which present surveys of visual-art possibilities in 
the various important fields. 


An unknown amount of constructive or creative art and 
design is necessary or advisable in developing powers of 
judgment and appreciation. 


The ability to do form and color thinking and judging 
is to be developed in youth in ways and under condi- 
tions as nearly like those in which it will later function 
during adulthood as practicable. 


The amount of geometrical and mechanical drawing 
needed by people in general, outside their vocations, is 
so slight that for reasons of economy it should be cared 
for by the department of visual arts. 


Mechanical drawing needed for vocational purposes 
should be directed by the vocational department to 
which the mechanical drawing applies. 


Amateur art work as a leisure occupation — except 
as it is a feature of unspecialized practical activities — 
has little or infrequent appeal and is not particularly 
fruitful. 


Training in drawing and other productive art should be 
only for those of sufficient aptitude to profit; and of 
sufficient diligence and industry to master the neces- 
sary skill of execution without undue effort by teachers. 
All others should be excused as results will not be great 
enough to warrant the labor and expense. 


The visual arts — understanding, appreciation, and 
skill — needed in any vocation should be determined 
strictly on the basis of that vocation. It should then be 
administered only to those who enter that vocation. 
In all of its aspects, culminating in skill of execution, it 
should be very thorough, achieving as high a standard 
as practicable in its applications to things involved in 
the vocation. But this needed specialized training 
should have no influence upon the character of the gen- 
eral or non-specialized art training. 


CHAPTER XV 
MUSIC 


WHEN one stands off and views the activities of the 
community life broadly to see the place of music 
therein, one notes such things as the following: 

1. Music plays a large and apparently increasing 
part in human life. 

2. It provides an experience of which most persons 
arefond. This does not prove that music is a matter 
of equally large worth. It is, however, evidence in its 
favor. 

3. Singing plays a diminishing réle in the commu- 
nity life. In the home-life it is possible now to have 
music of so much better and more varied character 
than the usual former type of home-singing, that the 
latter has been falling into disuse. The conditions 
also of city and village life are unfavorable to much 
home-singing. General community participation in 
singing in the churches is diminishing. 

Because of the craving for musical experience it was 
natural that singing should formerly have played a 
fairly large réle in the lives of those musically en- 
dowed but whose musical opportunities otherwise 
were limited. But now that their cravings are satis- 
fied in other ways, it is natural that even the musically 
endowed should do less singing than formerly. 

This diminishing réle of singing in the community 


230 © HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


life does not prove that it is the desirable trend. 
There appears however to be no discernible evidence 
that singing will increase within our generation; or 
even that it can continue to hold the place which it 
yet occupies. Most persons are content to see it de- 
cline. 

4. Amateur instrumental performance on an in- 
strument, usually piano, organ, or violin, is diminish- 
ing in our homes. Less expensive and more satisfy- 
ing methods of gratifying one’s musical cravings are 
employed. 

This does not prove that it ought to diminish. But 
there is no evidence to encourage one in thinking that 
this trend is to be reversed in our generation; and 
there is no certainty that it ought to be reversed. 

5. The cravings for musical experience are largely 
satisfied through the use of mechanical reproduc- 
tion, — phonograph, player-piano, radio. Even with 
moderate-priced instruments, this type of reproduc- 
tion, as compared with average home playing and 
singing, is reasonably good. Some of it is superior. 

6. The variety of musical experience placed at 
one’s disposal through the use of mechanical repro- 
ducing apparatus is immeasurably more extensive 
than that possible to amateur home production. When 
the apparatus is good, and the repertory of selections 
well-chosen, it is also superior in quality to most home 
production. In time and labor, and therefore in cost, 
it is more economical. 

7. The general musical craving of our population 


MUSIC 3 


is further satisfied through music produced by pro- 
fessional musicians. This is provided at churches, 
theaters and other gathering places. 

8. Music as a vocation is increasing in relative 
numbers and importance. The need therefore of vo- 
cational training in this field is increasing. Those to 
be trained should probably be discovered early and 
given training through many years. In this chap- 
ter we are not dealing, however, with the vocational 
training. 

9. The type of music used, more particularly by 
the younger generation, is largely of inferior quality. 
There is deficient appreciation and use of the great 
music of the world. While mankind appears to tend 
naturally, and without training, toward higher and 
finer types of visual art, there appears to be some 
strange perversity in human nature which causes us 
to tend toward increasing vulgarity in music. It is 
probably related to the transitoriness of auditory art 
forms and the continuity or permanence of the visual 
forms. 

The position of music in the community life points 
to the objectives to be aimed at in the training. Ex- 
cept for the vocational group, which is outside of our 
province here, the training in music will be less and 
less for purposes of general amateur production, 
whether vecal or instrumental, and more and more for 
wise consumption. Men and women need the ability 
to judge the worth of music of different kinds; appre- 
ciations of music of better quality; habits of choosing 


232 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


and using for their purpose music of the better qual- 
ities. 

The elaborate public-school preparation for singing 
on the part of all of the population will probably have 
to be modified. A large part of them will never sing. 
Training for an activity that is not to function cannot 
be justified. Even if we think that most persons 
should do some singing, we must admit that it will be 
so infrequent and of so small an amount that we are 
not justified in any elaborate program of training for 
the purpose. For the majority, probably a rather 
abundant and diversified rote singing is all that is 
needed. Possibly for a small percentage of the pop- 
ulation, their musical abilities are of such a high char- 
acter that we should be justified in teaching and prac- 
ticing them in the musical notation, with a view to 
making them high-grade amateur vocalists. 

In the matter of instrumental performance the 
expense is so great and the need is so small that schools 
are not justified, it seems, in giving the instrumental 
training except as it is strictly vocational training; or 
high-grade amateur training as an extra for those of 
special musical capacity. 


OxpJEcTIvEs oF Music 
A. In the basic training: 


414. Ability to utilize music for a healthful, varied, 
and abundant awakening of one’s emotional 
nature. 


415. Ability to sing. 


MUSIC 233 


501. A proportioned intellectual apprehension, such 
as one’s natural capacities will permit, of the real- 
ities which make up the world of man’s life: 


(0) The world of sound and music. 


114. Ability to make one’s various mental and emo- 
tional states and activities contribute in maxi- 
mum degree to one’s physical well-being. 


116. Ability to relax physically and mentally at proper 
times and in proper ways. 


B. Additional, when an “extra.” 


819 (1). High-grade amateur vocal ability. 
819 (2). Ability to play a musical instrument. 


501 (0). Technical understanding of music. 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


1. An appreciation of good music on the part of all who 
have anything to do with music, whether as auditor or 
producer, is greatly desirable. Education should there- 
fore make as great a contribution to the development 
of a wide-spread musical appreciation as practicable, 
all conditions considered. 


2. Outside of musical training for vocation, for specially 
selected high-grade amateurs, and for rote-singing, 
most musical training will be for judgment and appre- 
ciation, not for skill. 


8. For the sake of normal training for appreciation, music 
of proper quality should enter abundantly into the 
general life of the school. 


4. The basic thing involved in developing appreciation of 
music is hearing it under conditions which induce full 
and appropriate emotional reactions. 


5. Time is to be found in part for the pupils’ hearing of 
music by using it when practicable in connection with 
various school activities as accompaniment and inter- 


lude. 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


. Music is normally an aspect or accompaniment of so- 


cial activities of many types. The best training for 
appreciation comes from using it or experiencing it as 
an aspect of social experiences. 


. The ability to use music of desirable types and quan- 


tities is to be developed in ways and under conditions 
as nearly like those in which it later is to function as 
practicable. 


. For both childhood and adulthood, music should be 


generously used for emotional intensification of one’s 
experiences. 


. In discovering the music which is to be used for edu- 


cation, one will first find the experiences which can 
profit from the emotional intensification of appropriate 
music. Education will then use that music which is 
most effective for the purpose. 


General singing as a factor in community life of men 
and women is rapidly diminishing. The majority never 
sing. 


Unless singing is to find a larger place in community 
life than now appears probable, it is doubtful if more 
than a smal]l minority of public-school pupils should be 
expected to learn to read musical notation for sight 
singing. 


Pupils should learn to sing the world’s best songs; but 
for most pupils, it will be rote-singing on all levels of 
their training. . 


Training in singing should be only for those of suffi- 
cient aptitude to profit; and of sufficient diligence and 
industry to master it without undue effort by teach- 
ers. All others should be excused since results will not 
be great enough to warrant the labor and expense. 


The fundamental experience in learning to sing is to 
sing. A maximum of time should be given to this; 
with accessory training reduced to the necessary min- 
imum. 


15. 


16. 


LY fF 


18. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


MUSIC 235 


Through the use of an effective method of measuring 
and crediting achievement, pupils will be encouraged 
to secure a considerable portion of their vocal training 
in club and home-singing. Results being equal, this 
should have larger credit — because of the self-direc- 
tion. 


Home instruments will be utilized for training in musi- 
cal appreciation as fully as practicable. 


As mechanical methods of musical reproduction are per- 
fected, and as skilled professional production of music 
becomes more accessible, the need of training the gen- 
eral population for singing or instrumental execution 
diminishes and the need of musical appreciation and 
judgment increases. 


When one’s mind has been saturated with the great 
music of the world, even though he knows little of the 
technique of music, his standards of appreciation are 
automatically lifted to a relatively high plane. 


In the main, for non-performers, music is a thing to be 
used and experienced, not a thing to be studied. 


Music for the consumer is to be intellectualized only 
enough to enable him to select good and appropriate 
music for his uses. Not structure or technique prima- 
rily, but emotional (and other personal and social) 
values. 


Pupils should be made reasonably familiar — so far as 
ability permits — with the criteria to be employed in 
judging the worth of music of different types. 


The standards of thoroughness and completeness of 
training that are justifiable for the talented ones who 
are to become high-grade performers are not to be set 
up as the standards for those who cannot sufficiently 
profit from such training. 


That a thing is greatly enjoyed does not prove that it 
is a thing of correspondingly great value. 


. Nothing in education, in this department or any other, 


236 


25. 
26. 


27. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


is to be justified merely on the ground that it gives 
pleasure; there must be utility values of some practical 
or humanistic sort, to which the pleasure is but a lure 
before the thing is educationally justifiable. 


When music is given as vocational training, it should 
begin early and be continuous throughout one’s school- 
ing. 

The Seashore tests should be used in classifying pupils 
for musical training. 


Owing to the difficulty of securing enough high-grade 
vocal, piano, and orchestral music, the auditorium and 
also possibly the main corridor in every school should 
be provided with player-piano, phonograph, and radio 
apparatus, all of modern type. 


Those in training for vocational or high-grade amateur 
performance should offset the extra expense of their 
training by supplying a considerable portion of the 
auditorium and other school music. 


Musical training for specialized understanding and 
skill, is probably not an essential. It should not there- 
fore be permitted to displace any of the essentials of the 
basic training. 


For individuals who are not responsive to music, it is of 
no value. For them, it should be omitted. To force it 
upon them is to waste time, money, labor, and oppor- 
tunity. 


Training one to appreciate good music and to detest 
the bad is largely a matter of bringing one to appreciate 
those activities and experiences, personal and social, to 
which the good music is congruous and appropriate, 
and to dislike those activities and experiences to which 
the bad music is congruent and appropriate. 


Training which looks to the elimination of the auditory 
outrages which masquerade so abundantly under the 
name of music must be of the sort which elevates one’s 
intellectual, emotional and social standards, ideals and 
behavior in all fields. This is more to be accomplished 


MUSIC 237 


by one’s history, literature, science, associations, and 
the like, than by musical experience. It is to be ac- 
complished by aiming at a proportioned development 
of the whole man, rather than by specific musical train- 
ing. 


CHAPTER XVI 
ENGLISH EXPRESSION 


Ir is evident that the mother tongue performs a large 
function in the community life. The curriculum-maker 
must note, however, the particular ways in which it 
functions, or should function. Otherwise it is easy for 
him to miss the road by aiming at a large body of tech- 
nical information, at literary production on the part 
of amateurs, or even at nothing more than teaching 
textbooks without thought of purpose. 

The community uses the mother tongue for three 
purposes: 

1. Itis a necessary instrument of thought. Doubtless 
there can be simple thought without language. But for 
man, the language vehicle appears indispensable for 
thought which is clear, definite, and forcible. 

2. Itis the instrument of expression of one’s thought. 

3. It is the instrument employed in recewing the 
thought of others. 

In every case, the language is but the instrument or 
vehicle of the thought. The thought is the primary 
thing; the language the secondary thing. Yet the 
thought is so completely dependent on its vehicle, as 
spirit is dependent on body, that it remains but poor 
and inadequate when the language vehicle is poor and 
inadequate. We say that language is vague, crude, 
or confused, when really it is the thought back of it 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 239 


which is vague, crude, or confused. Thought-power is 
dependent upon language-power. Language-power de- 
pends upon thought-power. They are twin factors 
that must grow up together. 

From this point of view let us look at the language 
function in the community life. In one’s observations 
of the world about him, one needs the ability to think 
concerning the thousands of things and relations which 
currently pass before his eyes, with many of which he 
is practically concerned. For his civic thought and 
judgment, for example, and for participating in public 
opinion, he needs to think clearly concerning a multi- 
tude of agencies, processes, and relations. For enter- 
ing into the thought life of the world in his reading, 
he must think the thoughts and experiences of men 
along countless lines. For a wide vision of men and 
affairs and of their relations, he must think accurately 
in general terms. Heshould be as much at home in his 
generalized thinking as in his concrete thinking. For 
his vocation, he must think in technical ways concern- 
ing innumerable things and processes; and also concern- 
ing economic and social relationships. Much technical 
thinking also he will do in connection with his un- 
specialized labors. On a different level, he should do 
much thinking relative to man’s interdependencies: 
physical, biological, economic, political, and social. 
Here, if anywhere, accuracy and clearness are ne- 
cessities. This calls for ability in his thought to deal 
with the broad physical, biological, and social wholes 
within which lie his interdependencies. For his 


240 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


religious thinking, his ultimate life philosophy, for the 
integration in his mind of all the things which make up 
his world, he needs to conceive all reality in its largest 
and most general terms. 

Confronted with these thought-needs, suppose a man 
has an active vocabulary of only two thousand words 
and a reading vocabulary of only four thousand. With 
this meager equipment, he could not properly think 
relative to the thousands of things and relations, con- 
crete and abstract, particular and general, to which we 
have just referred. For adequate thought and ex- 
pression, he must have a far larger vocabulary. His 
reading vocabulary should comprise not fewer than 
twenty thousand terms; with twice this number an 
appropriate minimum for those of large intellectual 
caliber. 

These figures are not set too high. ‘The frequent as- 
sumption that normal-minded men can get on with the 
meager vocabulary of a few hundred words has been 
shown to be without foundation. 

One of the major needs of community life, therefore, 
it would seem, is the possession of an adequate vocabu- 
lary. 

A wide vocabulary springs from vital experience with 
a multitude of things and relations. It is not a thing, 
separate from one’s experiences, which can be given 
over by some one who has it, or by a dictionary. It is 
not a thing that in set lessons one can take on, in 
isolation from vital experiences. It is not to be de- 
veloped in any one place; but in all places where expe- 
riences are vital. 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 241 


A second major need is a sensitive sentence-sense, 
and a feeling for the grammatical relationships and se- 
quences in the make-up of the sentence. One im- 
bibes these things from the language atmosphere in 
which one grows up. Except for the grammatical 
information needed for avoiding certain pitfalls, no 
great amount of systematic training is here needed. 

A third major need is that language be clear, ordered, 
and sequential. This really means that the thought, 
out of which the language is born, should be clear, 
ordered, and sequential. Take care of the thought, 
and if vocabulary and sentence-sense are adequate, the 
language in its essentials will mainly take care of itself. 

Naturally one should be skilled in handling certain 
mechanical matters, such as pronunciation, spelling, 
handwriting, punctuation, capitalization, paragraph 
arrangements, margins, and the like. ‘These are not 
trivial matters. They are to be taken care of with all 
seriousness. But it should be noted that they are 
secondary. Let us leave them to one side for a 
moment. 

The three major language matters needed in the com- 
munity life are vocabulary, sentence-sense, and power 
to think in a clear orderly way in the innumerable fields 
of man’s thought. If the third of these is adequately 
taken care of, it will require vital experiences sufficient 
to care for the other two. The major problem of 
training in language becomes then the problem of 
training in power to think concerning the various 
matters of which man should think; in which process 


Q42 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


the language is used as the indispensable instrument of 
adequate thought. 

If one will hold to this view of the matter he will 
avoid certain serious educational errors: 

(1) He will not try to develop power to use the 
English language in isolation from the power to do the 
thinking which involves that use of the English. 

(2) Where he is in command of a body of thought he 
will not make the English primary and the thought 
secondary. 

(3) He will not over-emphasize technical informa- 
tion relative to matters of language and literary form. 
He will use technical information only when needed 
and in the ways needed. He will first be sure that the 
need is actual. 

(4) He will not aim primarily at the specialized need 
of literary amateurs; or the vocational needs of literary 
specialists, while arranging for the training of the total 
population. 

(5) He will not rely upon classes in English ex- 
pression which are not seriously dealing with any 
proper body of thought-materials to accomplish the 
training in the use of English. 

(6) He will not expect the training in the use of 
English to be accomplished mainly by the English de- 
partment. The latter will take care of certain acces- 
sory training, especially in matters relating to formal 
correctness. But they do not and will not have control 
over situations involving most needed thought-activi- 
ties on the part of the students. 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 243 


(7) He will not take the standards of English re- 
quired by certain specialized occupations, and set them 
up as the standards of general training. That a few 
vocations require a high degree of accuracy in spelling 
should not set the standard for the general training. 
The increment of spelling ability above that generally 
needed is a specialized vocational ability and should be 
cared for in the vocational training where it belongs. 
Because a few individuals need a type and speed of 
handwriting which is quite high is not a reason for 
setting up this high standard for the general non- 
vocational training. Because a few individuals re- 
quire for their professional or amateur performance a 
quite considerable literary ability, this is no reason for 
the school’s attempting to develop this literary pro- 
ductive power on the part of all. 

(8) He will not set up uniform standards for non- 
uniform people. The ultimate standards, it would ap- 
pear, should be reasonably high in the case of those of 
high intellectual endowment; of medium level for those 
of medium natural endowment; and of relatively low 
level for those of low endowment. One cannot veto 
nature’s decrees. 

Let us state these matters positively: 

(1) The thought-training of the school will be de- 
veloped first with the idea of developing thought-power. 

(2) As the thought is developed for the sake of 
thought-power, the language vehicle will at the same 
time be developed for the sake of making and keeping 
this thought effective. 


244 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


(3) So far as practicable all of the thought-life of the 
students will be utilized for the development of power 
to think and to organize thought. 

(4) At the same time, the thought-experiences of the 
pupils will be used as fully as practicable for developing 
the accompanying language-powers. 

(5) All departments when at work in developing 
powers to think and organize thought will, if their 
work is adequate and effective, be at the same time de- 
veloping the indispensable accompanying powers of 
adequate and effective expression. 

(6) Since all departments are interested in develop- 
ing thought-power, they must also be interested in de- 
veloping the necessary accompanying language-power. 
Their interest is not in doing the work of some other 
department; but in doing their own in the way most 
effective for their departmental purposes. So long as 
they feel that they are merely taking care of English as 
a thing in itself without particular relation to their 
work, they will not do it. They must see it as further- 
ing the work of their own department or they cannot be 
brought to do it. They must see the language in- 
strument as their opportunity; not as an arbitrarily 
imposed obligation. 

(7) Technical or accessory training will be employed 
only so far as necessary for keeping the fundamental 
experiences of desirable type. It will not be given pre- 
maturely; but when needed for guidance. It will not 
be given in excess of need. | 

‘Thus far we have discussed training for the major 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 245 


matters of English expression. The subordinate 
matters of formal correctness are also to be cared for. 
Rightly to see the problem one must see that these are 
not mere arbitrary conventions. They too are vitally 
related to the thought-bearing function of language. 
- For what is correct usage? Evidently it is that usage 
which is most effective in presenting the thought, and 
in which the language is so completely in the back- 
ground that one’s attention is not distracted from the 
thought and turned to the language. 

One’s pronunciation, for example, should be that 
which is most effective for accomplishing one’s purpose. 
The correct pronunciation is that which is on the whole 
most effective for transmitting or receiving the thought 
orally. Faulty pronunciation is that which injures the 
thought for speaker or hearer. This is done if words 
are unintelligible, if they are unexpected, if they are 
affected, or if in any wise they call the listener’s atten- 
tion to the language and away from the thought itself. 
The language should so clearly mirror the thought of 
the speaker that the listener is wholly unconscious of 
the language itself. 

The handwriting is to be judged from the point of 
view of adequacy in the conveyance of the thought. 
If it permits speed on the part of the writer so that his 
thought is not obstructed, and if it makes reading easy 
and rapid on the part of the reader, so that his attention 
is not called to the handwriting itself, then it is good 
handwriting. For ordinary social communication, 
quality is not a matter of conventions, but of service in 
transmitting thought. 


246 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


Grammatical correctness is for effectiveness of 
thought and for keeping the language itself in the back- 
ground. Whatever confuses or calls attention to the 
language itself obstructs the transmission of thought; 
and therefore should be avoided. This is usually to 
comply with the grammatical conventions; certainly 
with the language-habits of the group in which one 
moves. 

One is expected to use good form, order, and arrange- 
ment in all of one’s written work: margins, spacing, 
alignment, paragraphing, capitalization, punctuation, 
syllabification, and abbreviation. Here again it is the 
matter of doing the thing which is most effective in the 
transmission of one’s thought. A page that presents 
a pleasing appearance, that is neat, ordered, and so 
arranged that every essential matter can be secured 
with the least possible difficulty is conducive to effec- 
tiveness. ‘The page which is disarranged and confused, 
and which violates various conventions is bad stmply 
because it obstructs the presentation of the thought. 

As a starting-point only for the curriculum-maker, 
we suggest the following series of general principles and 
assumptions as practical guides in his work. Let him 
modify it as he will; or draw up another. But he 
should take some position in the ease of each of the 
problems here suggested; and hold to it consistently in 
the practical labors. 


GuIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 
1. One’s expressed language is the objective manifesta- 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 247 


tion of one’s thought; at the same time the language is 
the subjective instrument of one’s thought. 


. In all language expression, the thought is the primary 
thing, and the language the vehicle; caring for the 
thought adequately involves caring for the vehicle ade- 
quately. The latter is done, however, not for the sake 
of perfecting the vehicle, but for the sake of perfect- 
ing the thought. 


. Every school department that is developing power to 
think in some field should develop power to express 
thought clearly and sequentially in that field. This is 
to be done not for the sake of the expression but for 
the sake of adequate thought. At the same time this 
is the type of experience which normally develops one’s 
powers of expression. 


. In every department in the school there should be 
much English expression — for the sake of the thought 
or content side of the department’s work. The ex- 
pression should be carefully organized and adequate — 
for the sake of the thought. There should be as much 
oral expression by each individual pupil as the limited 
time will permit. There should also be a reasonable 
amount of written expression in each department. 


. The distinction which the student himself often draws 
between expression in his English classes and expres- 
sion in the classes of history, science, mathematics, etc., 
is injurious to his attitudes and powers of expression. 
There should be no possibility of such distinction. 


. The major experience in developing one’s powers of ex- 
pression is normal participation in the thought-life and 
language-life of school, home, and general community, 
under circumstances where one is mainly conscious of 
human experiences and of things objective, and rela- 
tively unconscious of the language-vehicle itself. 


. Language activities should be as unconscious and auto- 
matic as possible. 


. One should be made conscious of only those aspects 


248 


10. 


ihe 


16. 
ibe 


18. 


19. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


of his language of which he must be watchful for the 
sake of exactness and correctness. 


One should be left unconscious of those aspects of lan- 
guage which one uses properly as a result of uncon- 
scious learning. 


A diagnostic study of the language-abilities of each in- 
dividual student needs to be made. Where he reveals 
weakness, he is to be trained; where he is already suffi- 
ciently strong, he is not to be trained. 


Spelling drill for each individual should be centered 
upon the errors which he makes. 


. Handwriting drill for each individual should be cen. 


tered upon the errors in his handwriting. 


. Pronunciation drill for each individual should be cen- 


tered upon the errors in his pronunciation. 


. Grammatical drill for each individual should be mostly 


centered upon the grammatical errors which are to be 
eliminated. 


. In discovering the language errors and defects of in- 


dividual pupils, the oral-speech defects of pronuncia- 
tion, enunciation, voice quality and placement, etc., are 
to be looked after as carefully as any others. 


In each aspect of his expression, the student should keep 
a record of the types of error against which he should be 
on guard. His major task is to eliminate these errors. 


Only as the pupil is brought to be watchful of himself, 
without prompting on the part of the teacher, is his 
training accomplished. 


Students should be stimulated to attain each objective 
as expeditiously as practicable, and with a minimum of 
teacher-labor. ‘The more it is done without teacher- 
assistance, through pupil self-direction, as proven by 
measured results, the greater the credit that should be 
given. 


After the pupil has mastered the elements of formal cor- 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


25. 


26. 


27. 


28. 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 249 


rectness, all departments should consider it their func- 
tion to see that he permits no exception to occur in his 
use of the correct forms. 


In the main, matters of form should be made clear only 
as the difficulty arises. So far as no difficulty arises in 
the undirected language-life of the individual, he may 
better remain relatively unconscious of the technical 
language forms and relationships. 


Focusing attention upon the thought is a mode of 
keeping the language in the background. 


All teaching relative to matters of formal correctness 
will be done by the department of English. Holding 
pupils responsible for correctness of expression will be a 
responsibility of departments where expression is a 
portion of the pupil experience. 


In matters of formal correctness, the major effort of 
teachers will not be teaching but rather holding pupils 
responsible for self-direction in keeping their expression 
adequate and correct. 


Only those facts and principles relative to language 
should be taught which are necessary for rendering 
thought and communication more effective. 


The way to learn to express one’s self effectively in 
English is to express one’s self within normal situations 
where one greatly wants to express one’s self well. 


The auditor is as necessary for normal expression as the 
speaker; the reader, as necessary as the writer. 


As one expresses one’s self orally, one must feel that 
there are others before him who are accepting his com- 
munication in the spirit in which it is intended. If 
they are merely sitting critical of his expression, the 
whole situation is deranged. 


Written expression can be made sufficiently serviceable 
for training purposes only when the writer is conscious 
that his production is to be read by or to others whom 
he desires to please, convince, instruct, orimpress. He 


250 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


35. 


36. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


must write within a normal expression-situation. These 
cannot be manufactured; they must be discovered. 
Make-believe will not serve the purpose. 


When one is expressing himself normally in writing, he 
must be filled with the consciousness that what he 
writes is to be read by some one, in the spirit intended 
by the writer. If he is merely conscious that it is to be 
examined by a critical-minded teacher, usually the situ- 
ation is so deranged that the expression is not and can- 
not be normal. 


Deficiency in normal expression opportunities under 
school control is one of the greatest obstacles to effec- 
tive training in the active use of language. 


The English department has not control over a sufli- 
cient quantity of normal expression situations to give 
pupils enough practice in normal written expression. 


The student who does not realize the values of profi- 
ciency in expression, and who lacks a desire to attain it, 
is not prepared to profit from the training. Mere driv- 
ing him will be of little avail. Results gained are but 
apparent and soon lost after the driving season. The 
training must begin with laying the proper foundation 
in attitudes, valuations, and desires. Foundation must 
precede superstructure. 


The most difficult smgle problem is how to bring the 
children greatly to want to use a good quality of Eng- 
lish. 


In the language itself the two major things to be cared 
for are vocabulary and sentence structure. 


Normally the vocabulary grows up relatively uncon- 
sciously out of one’s diverse experiences in which lan- 
guage is a relatively unconscious accompaniment and 
vehicle of thought. The training problem therefore is 
not one of direct teaching of words, but rather provision 
of diversified normal experiences which are accompanied 
in normal ways by the verbal element. 


Normally, one’s sentence-sense and power to construct 


37. 


38. 


39. 


40. 


41. 


42, 


43. 


44. 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 251 


complicated sentences grow up relatively unconsciously 
out of one’s normal thought experiences. As these 
grow complex, the sentences keep the pace in complex- 
ity. 

Paragraph structure will develop naturally from the 
divisions in the thought itself. One who thinks clearly, 
adequately, and sequentially will break his thought into 
its natural paragraph divisions with little attention to 
the matter. 


The organization of the larger unit of discourse is at 
bottom but an organization of the thought-content. 


Because of the sensitiveness of one’s associates to mat- 
ters of formal correctness, errors in language-forms of 
every kind are to be weeded out as completely as prac- 
ticable consistent with a due amount of training effort. 
The standards will vary greatly among individuals ac- 
cording to original natures and social situation. 


In general education, literature is to be used mainly for 
its content or experience values. It is not to be used as 
a basis of training in English expression any more than 
history or science. 


There is no more reason for tying the English expres- 
sion up with the literature than with the history or the 
science. 


Training for amateur literary production is to be given 
only to those of proven capacity, aptitude, and industry 
— and who require no great amount of teacher effort 
and assistance. 


The general training in English expression is not for 
vocational literary production; nor for any special type 
of English expression in any vocation. It is only for 
the ordinary oral and written expression of everyday 


life. 


Only those are to be trained for vocational literary pro- 
duction who have definitely chosen this as their work; 
whom studies of capacity show to be fitted for it; and 
who are capable of a large degree of self-direction in 
achieving the skills and understanding. 


Q52 


45. 


46. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM | 


Special vocations require special forms of writing; 
training to use these, however, should be a portion of 
the vocational courses, and given only to those who 
are taking these courses. 


The basic aspects of English expression are the same 
whether it be oral or written. This being the case, it 
should be taken care of as one thing; but a thing of 
many aspects, each one of which should be adequately 
cared for. 


OBJECTIVES OF ENGLISH EXPRESSION 


. Ability to use language in all ways required for proper 


and effective participation in the community life. 


. Ability effectively to organize and present orally one’s 


thought to others: (a) In conversation; (b)In recount- 
ing one’s experiences; (c) In more serious or formal dis- 
cussion; (d) In oral report; (e) In giving directions; 
(f) To an audience. 


8. Ability to pronounce one’s words properly. 


4. Ability in speech to use the voice in ways both agree- 


able and effective. 


. Command over an adequate reading, speaking, and 


writing vocabulary. 


. Ability to use language which is grammatically correct. 


7. Ability effectively to organize and express one’s thought 


in written form: (a) Memoranda; (b) Letters; (c) Re- 
ports, news items or articles, systematic discussion of 
questions; (d) Giving directions; (e) Written addresses. 


8. Ability to write with proper legibility, ease, and speed. 


214. 


. Ability to spell the words of one’s writing vocabulary. 


. Ability to use good form, order, and arrangement in all 


of one’s written work: margins, spacing, alignment, 
paragraphing, capitalization, punctuation, syllabica- 
tion, abbreviation, ete. 


Ability to organize and express one’s ideas clearly and 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 253 


effectively in the discussion, formal or informal, of so- 
cial problems. 


312. Ability to converse agreeably and effectively upon a 
variety of topics and in a mood and manner suitable to 
the situation. 


405. Ability to utilize conversation as a profitable and en- 
joyable means of participating in the thought of the 
world. 


406. Ability and disposition to give expression to one’s 
thoughts and experiences in proper ways and under 
proper circumstances. 


502 (25-a) Ability to use language efficiently as the vehicle 
of one’s thought. 


Purit ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 

What should a pupil do in order that he may come 
to use his mother tongue easily, effectively, and cor- 
rectly? The curriculum-maker will probably begin 
by formulating the statement of the general types of 
pupil activity and experience. Some of the things that 
he will include are probably the following: 

1. The pupil will hear much English of the type which he 

is expected to use. 


2. He will read much English of the type which he is ex- 
pected to use. 


3. He will associate much with individuals who use the 
types of English which he is expected to use. 


4. He will have experiences under conditions which impel 
him to report or to discuss those experiences. 


5. In every department of the school in which he has op- 
portunities for oral or written expression, he will uti- 
lize these opportunities for practice in expressing him- 
self as clearly, effectively, and adequately as practicable. 


254 


10. 


19 Ee 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


Ath 


18. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


. He will discover the kinds of language errors and defi- 


ciencies which appear in his English. 


. He will keep himself on guard against each known type 


of error until it has been elimimated and right habits 
formed. 


. He will master the technical language information nec- 


essary for guidance and judgment in eliminating un- 
desirable language forms. 


. Employing the method devised by the school, he will 


assist his associates in the discovery of their language 
errors and shortcomings. 


He will utilize the assistance of his associates in discov- 
ering his own language errors and shortcomings. 


He will express himself frequently and sometimes at 
length under circumstances where he desires to express 
himself well. 


He will acquire ease and fluency in the use of oral and 
written English through abundance of experience in 
using the oral and written forms. 


Before expressing himself he will organize the elements 
of his thought so that the latter may be in proper order, 
sequence, and relation. 


He will have diversity of experiences with innumerable 
things under circumstances where the experiences are 
verbalized. 


In his pronunciation, spelling, and all of the other as- 
pects of oral and written expression, he will use the best 
forms of which he has knowledge. 


He will permit no exception to right language forms, 
so far as possible. 


He will frequently revise and rewrite, sometimes sev- 
eral times, his written productions. 


He will, etc., ete. 


Before this list is ready for use, it should be indefi- 


ENGLISH EXPRESSION 255 


nitely extended; yet it should present only the general 
types of pupil activity and experience and not enter 
into the details. It is to be an instrument for guidance 
in formulating the details of the curriculum. With a 
completed and finished statement in the hands of the 
curriculum-making group, they can then reduce the 
activities to the specifies of experience for first-grade 
pupils, second-grade pupils, and so on through all the 
grades to the end of secondary education. 


CHAPTER XVII 
MODERN LANGUAGES 


ACTIVITY-ANALYSIS is the beginning of all curriculum- 
making. Find the activities which men perform, or 
those which they should perform; and train for those. 

As the curriculum-maker considers foreign language 
in the community life, let him consider his American 
neighbors who live down along the street. What 
amount and character of Spanish, Scandinavian, 
German, French, Portuguese, Russian, or Japanese do 
they use? What amount should they use? And how 
may the alien languages function beneficently in the 
achievement of objectives other than alien language 
abilities? 

To prevent confusion in our activity-anaylses, let 
us leave to one side those immigrants who are yet 
but Americans-in-the-making. They bring their own 
foreign language with them. We are not concerned 
with teaching it. Let us leave aside also all considera- 
tion of language for vocational purposes. It is needed 
by few vocations, and those very much specialized, 
calling annually for but few entrants. As vocational 
training, foreign languages are to be given as needed 
and when needed. But this specialized training lies 
wholly outside the field of general education. It must 
not be permitted to confuse our thought relative to the 
general need. 


MODERN LANGUAGES 257 


As expressed in the foregoing chapter, language is 
used in the community life for three purposes; (1) As 
a vehicle of one’s thinking; (2) To express thought; 
(3) To receive thought. 

In making community analyses, then, let the cur- 
riculum-maker take up one modern foreign language 
after another, and for each find the facts in answer to 
three questions. Let us suppose that he begins with 
French: 

1. To what extent does the community, or should 
the community, use French as the instrument of its 
current thinking? And what character of French do 
they, or should they, use? 

2. In talking and writing to each other, or to any- 
body, to what extent do they, or should they, express 
themselves in French? And what quality of French 
and speed of expression do they need for this purpose? 

3. In listening to others or in reading the written or 
printed expression of others, to what extent is, or 
should, this expression be in French? 

After one has thus discovered the French which 
functions in the community life, or which should 
function there, he then can proceed with reasonable 
certainty to arrange a curriculum which will fit persons 
for using the amount and character of French that is 
to be used. Beyond what functions in some way, 
public education is not warranted in going. 

After the curriculum-maker has discovered the en- 
tire French element that should function within his 
American community, then let him take up the other 


258 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


foreign languages, particularly those used by large 
populations: Spanish, Italian, Scandinavian, German, 
Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Portuguese. Among 
fully-fledged Americans, in most parts of our country, 
it is probable that several of these languages function 
about as fully as French, and should be considered on 
the same grounds. 

Let us emphasize one caution. The man who does 
not value human culture in the general community 
life, and who does not look upon the full expansion and 
flowering of the personality as a sine qua non for prop- 
erly living one’s life, is scarcely fitted to be a curric- 
ulum-maker for general education. And yet he must 
look upon human culture for what it is. He must not 
be misled by terms. He should see for himself the 
finer things of our twentieth century culture, where 
this is at its best. In his analyses, therefore, he 
should discern every way in which these languages are 
functioning in the more subtle matters of the com- 
munity living, and the ways they ought therein to be 
functioning. He should see all elements of man’s 
culture, and value these alien language elements in 
proportion to the part that they actually play in man’s 
total culture. Those who are demanding “culture,” 
certainly are not asking for anything other than a 
functioning culture. 

This demands therefore that the curriculum-maker 
look also at the indirect ways in which foreign lan- 
guages may function. He will examine them as means 
of achieving objectives other than abilities to use the 


MODERN LANGUAGES 259 


languages as languages. In his analyses here, he will 
find himself in a region that is very obscure. There is 
some evidence, however conclusive it may ultimately 
prove to be, that the alien languages have a consider- 
able réle to play in a well-conducted American life. 

So vital is language in human life, so close does it lie 
to thought and feeling and the well-springs of human 
action, that it would be strange indeed if it were not a 
field of fruitful play. A generous and diversified play 
is nature’s method of calling into being one’s general 
powers — those more deep-lying than the specific 
abilities, and of which the latter are special manifesta- 
tions. One’s general language powers grow up largely 
through abundant language-play experience. The 
fuller and more diversified, within limits and with 
certain qualifications, of course, the larger the amount 
of general growth of powers — until the potential 
maximum is reached. But there cannot well be lan- 
guage-play experience, except as there is also sub- 
jective thought and feeling of which the language is 
vehicle; and this also is play. And this thought and 
feeling at the same time makes its contribution to one’s 
general unfoldment in the achievement of certain of 
the non-language objectives. 

In the present state of our knowledge no one can be 
dogmatic, whether for or against the use of foreign 
languages as vital educational experiences of play type. 
The probabilities are in favor of a generous use of 
them as “extras,’’ — so long as it is strenuous and 
zestful play-experience, largely spontaneous and self- 


260 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


directed; and so long as it is adjusted in amount to all 
the other things which should make up a well-balanced 
program of experiences. Education should proceed 
upon the basis of the probabilities until scientific in- 
vestigations have shown us the verities. 

On the basis of these probabilities, rather than upon 
the findings of an analysis of actual language uses, we 
suggest for languages as extras the following illustra- 
tive platform of basic principles and assumptions. 
Any curriculum-making group should formulate its 
own series; and it may differ widely from the one here 
presented. When this is carefully done, numerous 
problems that will arise relative to the details of the 
courses are disposed of in advance. 


MopierN LANGUAGES 


1. Foreign languages are justified in public education in 
the degree in which they function in the life of the popu- 
lation; or rather in the degree in which they ought to 
function, whether directly or indirectly. 


2. In the general training, while foreign languages may be 
of value, they probably are not essentials. They should 
be offered as opportunities in addition to the essentials. 
They should be optional, not required. 


3. In our country, for non-vocational purposes, those who 
will use a modern language sufficiently to warrant 
studying it, will use it mainly for reading; and infre- 
quently for a little simple oral communication. 


4. One should read a foreign language in the same way he 
reads his mother tongue; and for about the same pur- 
poses. 


5. The basic experience in learning to read a modern lan- 
guage is to read it abundantly. All else should be re- 
duced to a minimum, 


10. 


11. 


12. 


138. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


MODERN LANGUAGES 261 


. Reading should begin in the very beginning of the 


study; and it should be fairly abundant by the end of 
the first semester. 


. Translation serves no sufficient purpose — after a be- 


ginning has been made. It should be reduced to a min- 
imum in the first year, and omitted thereafter. 


. Modern language reading experience should be wholly 


(or mainly) on the play-level — pleasant but strenuous 
intellectual play — strenuous because of the abundance 
of reading to be covered, not because of the steepness or 
the drudgery of the climb. 


. A genuine reading ability demands that the students 


read ten or twenty times as many pages per year as now 
ordinarily covered in the usual type of school. 


The content of the reading on each level should be 
adapted to the general mental maturity of the pupils. 
On the thought side, it should be interesting; and not 
difficult. 


In grading readings, there should be consideration of 
the complexity of grammar, vocabulary, and story or 
thought-content. 


Pupil-readings, from recommended graded lists, should 
be largely self-chosen. 


After the start has been made, a language is to be mas- 
tered in ways and under conditions in which it is to be 
used aiter school days are over. 


After a proper start is made, a reading ability can be 
acquired by those who want it enough to acquire it, 
without much labor on the part of the teachers. 


The student who requires an undue amount of teacher- 
effort to keep him going will not profit sufficiently to 
warrant giving him the language. 


A forced study of language will not result properly in 
attaining any of the objectives. If not mastered on the 
play-level, for the joy of the experience and of the 


262 


17 


18. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


24. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


achievement, it will not be mastered in any profitable 
way. 


The language results being the same, as shown by 
supervisory tests, self-directed home reading of foreign 
language books and newspapers should be accorded 
larger credit than reading at the school which demands 
teacher stimulation and labor. 


To introduce the necessary oral and social element, 
much of the reading and most of the oral element 
should be carried on by foreign language clubs or groups 
of students involving a maximum of student self- 
direction and management. 


If after proper opportunities and stimulations have 
been provided and a proper start has been made, a 
pupil has not sufficient interest in a language to exert 
himself in its mastery without much help from the 
teacher, then he should at once discontinue the study. 


Power of full comprehension is to be developed through 
much reading rather than through complete under- 
standing of every phrase read. Attempt to secure the 
latter is a most wasteful process. 


The school should provide for the maintenance of a 
foreign language once learned — as long as the pupil is 
in school. 


Except as a language functions during the learning and 
except as there is pupil-expectation that it will continue 
to function after the learning, the learning process will 
be so anzemic as not to be worth while. 


One who is learning or using a modern foreign lan- 
guage should do a portion of his reading of history, sci- 
ence, literature, current news, etc., in that language. 


As one learns to read a language he will also learn to 
speak it in a simple way — since language is primarily 
an oral affair and is scarcely felt to be a language except 
as it is put into oral-articulatory terms. 


. In beginning a foreign language for reading purposes, 


the oral element should be sufiicient to develop pro- 


26. 


Q7. 


28. 


29. 


30. 


31. 


32. 


33. 


34. 


MODERN LANGUAGES 263 


nunciation habits and the necessary auditory-articu- 
latory imagery. 

For those who do little more than read the language, 
nothing more than a moderate accuracy of pronuncia- 
tion is worth striving for. 


Except for certain simple speaking of the language with 
no great fluency, range of vocabulary, or even gram- 
matical correctness, training in idiomatic speaking will 
come after fullness of reading experience. (Under usual 
American conditions. It would be different were one 
living in the foreign country.) 


Not much technical grammar is needed prior to begin- 
ning the reading. 


For those learning to read the language only, composi- 
tion serves no sufficient purpose. 


Fundamental language-experiences should be used in 
maximum measure; accessory, In Minimum measure. 


A “knowledge of the life and thought of foreign na- 
tions’ — many foreign nations — is now so important 
that we cannot afford to trust the matter to the usual 
amount and character of reading in one foreign lan- 
guage. 

The use of foreign languages for deprovincializing our 
population, if justifiable, appears to call for a moderate 
knowledge of several languages rather than a highly 
intensive and accurate knowledge of but one. 


After one has learned to read one foreign language, he 
finds a second much easier, and a large degree of self- 
direction quite possible. The third and fourth lan- 
guages are still easier and can be left mostly to self- 
direction. 


Foreign languages for general training will lay a founda- 
tion for that further development of foreign languages 
which sometimes is needed for vocational purposes. 
The general training in itself, however, open to every- 
body irrespective of vocations, will not go further than 
demanded by the objectives of general traming. 


264 
35 


36. 


37. 


38. 


39. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


When a foreign language is demanded by one’s voca- 
tion, the character and degree of proficiency in oral, 
written, and reading uses is to. be determined by the 
needs of the vocation itself. While the general train- 
ing may have laid the foundation up to the limits of the 
general training, beyond this point it is to be admin- 
istered only to those who enter the vocation; and it is to 
carry them on to the point demanded by proficiency in 
that vocation. 


When a language is prescribed or recommended for 
vocational purposes, it is not then to be opened to the 
total public-school population for general training pur- 
poses. If included in general education it must be justi- 
fied on some other basis than the vocational one. 


Rarely will high schools give vocational courses in which 
a foreign language is one indispensable ingredient. The 
vocational argument therefore will apply but slightly 
to foreign languages in the high school. They will 
there be justified in the main by the general training or 
not at all. 


No one should specialize in modern languages, except 
as it is vocational specialization. 


Where immigrant children in our public schools are 
already bi-lingual, the schools should develop power to 
use both languages. This is the class of individuals 
from which should be drawn those who are to fill voca- 
tional positions demanding fluent use of two languages. 
It is a practicable and an economical method. 


Tur OBJECTIVES 


An examination of the abilities and personal qualities 


enumerated as educational objectives in Chapter II 


reveals none which make a clear demand for foreign 


languages. This leaves the latter outside the zone of 


basic general training. So far as they are employed, it 


appears they must be for general education in the realm 


of the problematical extras. 


MODERN LANGUAGES 265 


The writer is much embarrassed in attempting to 


present even an illustrative list of tentative objectives 


for foreign languages as extras. The following may at 


least hint at their purposes: 


a 


The ability to use the oral forms of one or more modern 
foreign languages in a simple way without any great 
degree of either fluency or correctness. 


. Ability to read one or more modern foreign languages 


with moderate ease and fluency and with enjoyment. 


. An improved understanding of, and sympathetic atti- 


tude toward, the people whose language is thus in some 
measure mastered. 


. Some reduction in the degree of one’s provinciality; or 


otherwise expressed, some increase of cosmopolitan 
spirit and attitude. 


. A certain degree of furtherance of one’s language abili- 


ties in general, including that of the mother tongue, 
through this extension and diversification of one’s lan- 
guage experiences. 


This series of objectives probably does not go far 


enough to satisfy the specialists in modern languages. 
On the other hand, it probably goes much beyond 
what is approved by the opponents of modern lan- 


guages in the curriculum. 


Purit ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES 


With the working objectives before him, the curricu- 
lum-maker should first decide upon the general type of 
pupil activity and experience which will enable the 
pupil to arrive at the goals set up. We suggest such a 
statement as that of which the following is a beginning: 


ue 


The pupil should hear the language spoken upon the 
level of his powers to understand. 


266 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


. He should himself speak the language in a simple way 


— without striving for fluency in extended discourse or 
any high degree of correctness. 


. He will read an abundance of interesting materials, al- 


ways upon the level of his advancing understanding of 
the language for his reading purposes. 


. He will frequently carry on simple conversation with 


his associates in the foreign language. 


5. He will sing songs which employ the language studied. 


6. He will employ games which employ the language 


studied. 


7. He will read newspapers printed in the foreign language. 


8. In his readings of history, science, literature, and the 


9. 


like, in the several school departments, he will often 
use collateral books printed in the foreign language. 


He will, etce., ete. 


This list of pupil activities and experiences should be 
much extended. After this is done it can then be used 
for guidance in planning the detailed foreign language 
activities for each of the grade levels. 


CHAPTER XVIII 
LATIN 


Tue plan of activity-analysis used in discovering the 
place of modern languages in American life should be 
used as well in discovering the ways in which Latin 
functions in the life of to-day. As one examines the 
community situation, one discovers such things as the 
following: 

1. Among members of the community, Latin is 
never used as the instrument of one’s speech. There- 
fore there is no need of the ability either to speak it or 
to understand it in spoken form. 

2. Members of the community do not use Latin for 
their written communications. For this purpose they 
need neither to write it nor to read it. 

3. No one reads Latin for getting at the learning of 
the world. This learning does not exist in the Latin. 
The most trustworthy information about anything 
whatever is that which has come from the latest re- 
searches, and which takes into account and revises all 
previous thought or information on the topic. The 
science, history, sociology, and the like, of a century 
ago were very primitive; and if used for our present- 
day purposes would be very misleading. If now we go 
much further back to the writings of twenty centuries 
ago, we find the learning therein presented very 


268 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


primitive indeed. Probably no one would be misled 
by it since no one would take it seriously enough to be 
misled. As a source of information, even in matters 
of history, social science, the Graeco-Roman civilization 
and the like, it is unreliable. The writers of Rome did 
not know the history of Rome, nor the social and 
political forces there operative, with anything like the 
clearness and completeness with which we know them 
to-day. Methods of historical research and inter- 
pretation and the technique of sociological, economic, 
and political analysis are recent developments. They 
have given us a fullness of information relative to the 
Roman episode in human history beside which the 
sociological and historical learning of the Latin litera- 
ture is puerile. 

4. Members of the community do not read the 
literature of Rome as a fruitful leisure occupation. 
There is no prospect that they will ever do so. As 
compared with our modern literatures, that of Rome 
was poor and barren. Certainly, not until our people 
come to read our own rich literature in far greater 
abundance than at present can we expect them to de- 
velop cravings for that of ancient Rome. 

5. Men and women of to-day do not use Latin as the 
language-vehicle or instrument of their thought. They 
could not do so if they wished, since the Latin vo- 
cabulary is too primitive. It will not carry the complex 
diversified thought of to-day. 

Now these are all of the ways in which a community 
may use a language as a language. We must conclude 


LATIN 269 


that Latin, in our American cities, villages, and open 
country does not function as a language. 

The non-functioning of the Latin as an instrument 
of thought or communication in the community life 
proves conclusively that the ability to use Latin as a 
language, whether for speaking, writing, or reading, is 
not a proper objective of general education. 

This does not prove, however, that Latin is not to be 
used for educational purposes. The experience and the 
information may be means to the achievement of other 
objectives, the legitimacy of which are indisputable. 
Two things especially are urged by the Latinists: 

1. It helps English to function better. There are 
several ways in which this is said to occur, but the 
major contention is that the Latin vocabulary func- 
tions in the English vocabulary. A half of common 
English words are descended, mostly through the 
French, from the Latin. One should know the ances- 
tral forms, we are told, in order that he may make the 
living forms properly function. Underlying this as- 
sumption is the further one that one can easily learn 
the meanings of Latin words without tracing their pre- 
Latin genealogy, but that he cannot similarly learn the 
meanings of English words without their pre-English 
history. 

It is undoubtedly true that a knowledge of the 
simples out of which our more complex terms are built 
is of great service in dealing with these complex terms. 
The simples make up a vocabulary-alphabet, so to 
speak. One cannot use English effectively without a 


270 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


certain skill in handling English prefixes and suffixes. 
Of these there are a few dozen, derived originally from 
three or four languages. But they are English now; 
they have been completely assimilated. It is as easy 
to learn them as elements of the English tongue as it is 
to learn them as the elements of an alien tongue. It is 
probably easier, since one imbibes their meanings 
relatively unconsciously. A little attention to them is 
needed for making one conscious of them, and in fit- 
ting one for a generalized use of them. In addition, 
there are several score, possibly a few hundred, word- 
simples, used as basic material in common word-com- 
pounding. It gives one a vocabulary-alphabet, so to 
speak, to be able to handle these materials with under- 
standing and skill. Knowing the elements, one can 
interpret the meanings of unfamiliar terms in which 
they occur; choose the right word where there are per- 
plexing alternatives; and occasionally coin new terms. 

These materials also are elements of the English 
tongue. In the main, their basic meanings are learned 
as one imbibes unconsciously his understanding of the 
English. Ata later stage, in making him conscious of 
the elements, and in breaking such of them out of the 
compounds as can be serviceable, so that he may use 
them more freely as vocabulary-alphabet, it seems 
advisable to introduce the ancestral terms, whether 
Latin, Greek, or Anglo-Saxon. This etymology calls 
for nothing more than the original words together with 
sometimes the combining forms. Since the number of 
word-simples that can be really serviceable is not great, 


LATIN ya 


this task is a lighter one than the usual study of any one 
of the obsolete languages. Approached in this way it 
is easy to remember these elements — where one needs 
them and wants them — because they are things 
already largely known from one’s more fundamental 
and unconscious vocabulary-mastery. The etymo- 
logical process is mainly for raising them to the level 
of consciousness. 

Researches have not yet been made to show what 
word-roots are serviceable enough for this purpose to 
warrant the etymological study of them. It is prob- 
able that the list is not so long as the linguists would 
have us believe. 

The value of the etymology for vocabulary is often 
greatly exaggerated. Linguists live so fully in a realm 
of verbal associations that they seem to forget that the 
words of one’s vocabulary are primarily to be associated 
with the realities to which they refer; and that the 
basic experience in effecting these associations is vital 
contact with the realities themselves, with the verbal 
element used at the same time as a vehicle of the sub- 
jective experience. Vocabulary grows out of active 
experiences verbalized at the time. It is not primarily 
a matter of transmuting one language into another. As 
a matter of fact, this latter appears to be for most 
persons a quite minor factor in vocabulary-building. 

It is probable that the vocabulary of all classes of the 
population for their non-vocational purposes can be 
sufficiently taken care of in the manner mentioned, 
without the usual type of ancient language study. 


272 | HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM © 


This is not to lose sight of the probability, or certainty, 
that if one will learn to read Latin and Greek, he will be 
still better prepared for using his etymology as a help 
to his English. But the additional ability thus gained 
is probably too small to be worth any great cost. 

The argument that physicians, for example, need 
both Greek and Latin because of their special voca- 
tional terminology is entirely irrelevant. If it can be 
proved that the physician should be able to read Greek 
in order to handle his vocational terms, all that this 
proves is that the physician should learn to read Greek 
as a part of his vocational training. It presents no rea- 
son whatever for Greek as a part of general education. 
A specific vocational need proves nothing as to what is 
needed by men and women in general. Let those who 
are drawing up the vocational programs take care of 
all of the vocational needs. When those who are train- 
ing physicians tell us that on the basis of activity- 
analysis it has been proved that physicians must have 
Latin and Greek for the sake of their vocational 
proficiency, then let it be placed in the vocational 
curriculum of physicians. 

To conclude this section, there is no sufficient proof 
that the Latin translation and composition ability 
functions in one’s current English vocabulary suffi- 
ciently to warrant years of Latin study of usual type. 

Most of the other claims that Latin helps the English 
to function better bear the marks of special pleading. 

2. Latin functions in the community life, we are 
further told, in the intellectual virility, endurance, and 


LATIN 273 


nimbleness that comes from having scaled this austere 
and difficult intellectual height. The language itself 
may not be greatly used later in the affairs of life any 
more than one’s youthful ascent of the Matterhorn 
may later be used. Simply both are zestful expe- 
riences of the kind out of which the virile man is born. 

Here doubtless is the strongest argument for the 
Latin. The language, they say, is one of innumerable 
opportunities for the intellectual adventure of explor- 
ing fields new and different and alluring. One’s best 
general intellectual exfoliation comes from thus ever 
exploring realms hitherto new and strange, prompted 
mainly by the zest of the experiences, rather than by a 
prosaic consciousness of the immediate utilities: the 
spirited, strenuous, and joyous activities of intellectual 
play. The fields of such high play are numerous: 
histories, literatures, travels, industries, politics, in= 
stitutions, sciences. In these, one explores fields of 
reality. But a language is also a field of reality to be 
explored; and for many persons an alluring one. There 
are divers fields of intellectual opportunity besides the 
alien languages, and many of them are far more im- 
portant. But there is probably enough demonstrable 
value in the Latin for etymology and general language- 
sense, in the Spanish for pan-American good-will, in 
French, German, Italian, Russian, and the others for 
humanitarian attitudes and understanding, to justify 
many at least in finding a part of their intellectual 
adventuring in this field of the alien languages. 

This is not to be a process of formal discipline 


Q74 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


through drudgery; but one of growth through zestful 
experiences. ‘The student who sets out to explore any 
foreign language field should do so of his own choice. 
He should have a desire for the intellectual experiences. 
He should set out with eager anticipations, in the spirit 
of adventure. He will find it a good stiff climb, but 
he should climb with pleasure, do his own climbing, 
and do it with zest and speed. Such an individual 
is of that rare metal that can profit from the expe- 
rience. All others will leave the languages alone. For 
them there are numerous other fields of intellectual 
emprise from which they can profit in a similar way. 

The activities of the well-rounded personality are 
multifarious. ‘The play experiences out of which the 
abilities to perform these activities so largely grow, 
should be proportioned somewhat according to the 
values of the abilities to which they more or less un- 
consciously contribute. The Latin intellectual play is 
but one type in a wide range of desirable types of in- 
tellectual play. It should not have more than its due 
share of the time. Many of the other types are 
essentials to any proper growth of the man; but Latin 
is not an essential. It should not therefore be per- 
mitted to encroach upon the time to be allotted to 
essentials. 

One is venturesome indeed who attempts to for- 
mulate even an illustrative platform of principles and 
assumptions for this department. The following is a 
revised form of the one presented for the purpose in 
Los Angeles: 


LATIN O95 


GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS 


. Latin should be used as an educational means in the 
achievement only of objectives, the need of which are 
proven by community analyses which have been made 
without reference to the means to be employed in at- 
taining them. 


. The educational objectives of Latin, if any, must be 
something other than the ability to use Latin as a lan- 
guage. 


. For those who have learned to read Latin with zest and 
pleasure, it functions: (1) In English vocabulary; (2) In 
commonly used Latin terms; (3) In an increased under- 
standing and appreciation of language in general; (4) In 
increased understanding of the Roman people; (5) In 
the general intellectual spirit and attitudes created by 
climbing these long and difficult intellectual steps. 


. The etymological elements of English will be employed 
in developing one’s English vocabulary. 


. Etymological study of English should be a portion of 
the essential English training expected of all normal in- 
dividuals. 


. For the large majority of persons, the Latin etymologi- 
cal elements can be made sufficiently serviceable with- 
out any mastery of Latin as a language. They can se- 
cure them for the Latin just as they now usually secure 
them for the Greek, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian 
portions of our language. 


. An unknown percentage of specially capable individ- 
uals should probably learn to read Latin as the most ef- 
fective means of developing an understanding and appre- 
ciation of the Latin elements in the English. There is 
an analogous justification, in lesser measure, for their 
also learning to read Greek and Anglo-Saxon. 


. For a few rare individuals, the percentage unknown, 
the reading of Latin literature may be an enjoyable and 
profitable intellectual leisure occupation. 


276 
9 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


16. 


17. 


18. 


HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


The great majority of our population seems unable or 
unwilling to approach and to master the Latin in that 
spirit and with that zest and self-direction that makes 
the experience worth the time and effort. 


For the few who can profit, the study should probably 
be seen as playing a relatively superficial rdle, and 
should be administered accordingly. 


In the general training, Latin should always be an 
‘“‘extra,’ and never allowed to supplant or interfere 
with essential matters. 


Except as Latin is specifically vocational — a thing 
practically non-existent on the public-school level — no 
one should specialize in Latin in the public schools. It 
is too minor an ingredient of general education. It 
should never be one’s major. 


The department of Latin need not burden itself with 
objectives which can be better taken care of by other 
departments, the necessity of whose labor is without 
question; for example, Roman life and institutions, 
English style, ete. 


One can more fully and effectively enter into Roman 
life, the Mediterranean civilization, classic mythology, 
legend and history, through the vernacular than through 
the Latin. 


One who has the ability to read Latin with fluency and 
pleasure can secure all of the values to be expected from 
its use as a means of general education. 


Where Latin is studied as a language, schools should use 
the most effective and economical method of develop- 
ing the ability to read the language easily and fluently. 


The basic experience in learning to read Latin is to read 
it abundantly. All else should be reduced to a mini- 
mum. 


In the beginning there should be a generous amount of 
easy repetitious reading; and it should be reading, not 
translation. 


19. 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23. 


25. 


26. 


27. 


28. 


29. 


LATIN Q77 


After a proper beginning has been made, translation 
serves no sufficient purpose — except possibly occa- 
sionally to serve as a check on the reading. It should 
be reduced to a minimum. Most of the Latin reading 
should be simple and interesting narrative. 


The classic literature was never written for teaching 
purposes; certainly not for training beginners in the 
language. It should not be undertaken until one reads 
the language in a way that can be called reading it — 
not merely stumbling through it. 


Story or thought-content being suitable to the pupil’s 
maturity and interests, reading materials should be 
graded on the basis of difficulty of vocabulary and sen- 
tence-structure. 


Latin reading experience should be on the play-level — 
pleasant but strenuous intellectual play — strenuous 
because of the abundance of the reading, requiring con- 
centration, not because of the steepness of the climb or 
the quantity of the drudgery. 


The road of drudgery has not been a road of success in 
Latin training. It enabled Latin to be an excellent 
selective device. The other fruits have been meager. 


. Not much technical grammar is needed prior to begin- 


ning the reading. 


The actually needed grammar can be developed along- 
side the reading; the rest can be omitted. 


Fundamental language experiences should be used in 
maximum measure; accessory, In Minimum degree. 


None of the objectives demands Latin composition (so- 
called). 


The student who requires much teacher-effort to keep 
him going will not profit sufficiently from the language 
to warrant the labor of forcing it upon him. 


After a proper start is made, the main thing needed is 
reading by the student; not teaching by the teacher. 


278 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


The latter will provide conditions and stimulations, but 
class-meetings need not be frequent. 

80. Any language study which has as its primary purpose 
the improvement of English should be under the direc- 
tion of the English department. 


Tue OBJECTIVES 

An examination of the comprehensive list of abilities 
in Chapter II reveals only one which appears to make 
any clear demand for any understanding of the Latin. 
This is, “A command over an adequate English vocab- 
ulary.”” But as already explained, the need of Latin 
for this purpose is not great enough to place the lan- 
guage in the basic training of general education. Ob- 
viously, it can be only an extra. 

A working list of objectives which is in harmony with 
a functional conception of education is difficult to 
locate. For the few who can take the Latin as an 
extra with profit, the following working list of ob- 
jectives is suggested: 


1. The ability to read the Latin as a language with at least 
moderate fluency; and with understanding and enjoy- 
ment. 


2. An increased command over one’s English vocabulary. 


8. An augmented appreciation of English words through 
the vision which the Latin gives of their genesis. 


4. Some degree of increase in one’s general language abil- 
ities through this extension and diversification of one’s 
language experiences. 


5. The effects upon the personality, whatever these may 
be, of successfully prosecuting a strenuous and sustained 
piece of intellectual work. 


LATIN 279 


If one will learn to read the language with relative 
ease and pleasure, then it seems that the other ob- 
jectives, whatever they may be, are attained, or may 
easily be attained, at the same time. Probably, there- 
fore, the curriculum-maker will set up as his major ob- 
jective the first of the above. 


CHAPTER XIX 
ADMINISTRATIVE SUGGESTIONS 


WITHIN a school system, those who are nearest the de- 
tailed labors are the ones who should take the initiative 
in planning the details of those labors. The teachers 
of chemistry, for example, should take the initiative in 
planning the details of the course in chemistry. The 
teachers in each department should initiate in planning 
the detailed labors within their several departments. 
They will not make ultimate decision as to the details; 
but they will formulate the original proposals. 

As the teachers initiate plans as to the details, the 
principal of the building will independently initiate the 
more general plans and policies which are to control in 
the total work of the building. Whether it be elemen- 
tary or secondary school, the principal should have 
clearly formulated policies relative to every depart- 
ment and grade of the training. He needs this for his 
guidance, leadership, and codrdination of all of the fac- 
tors. In the curriculum-making, he is in the position 
of the director of an orchestra who must coérdinate all 
of the parts in the making of one harmonious whole. 
Lacking this leadership and coérdination, the initia- 
tive on the part of the teachers but results in disinte- 
gration and incoérdination on the part of the several 
relatively autonomous and irresponsible departments. 

The principal also is nearer the educational labor to 


ADMINISTRATIVE SUGGESTIONS 281 


be accomplished in his district than the superintendent. 
He should therefore initiate the policies and plans for 
his particular district. He will not have final decision, 
however. 

As the teachers plan the details and as the princi- 
pals plan for the specific needs of their buildings, the 
superintendent at the same time will independently 
plan on a still more general level the education which 
is to be accomplished by the entire organization. He 
should have definite plans for the labors of every 
school, every department in the system and for each of 
the grade levels. He cannot be guide, leader, and co- 
ordinator of the professional factors except as he has 
his educational policies thus clearly defined. He will 
then use these general plans and policies as he considers 
and approves the educational plans initiated by the 
several portions of the organization. In curriculum- 
making, he and his professional staff will thus provide 
the most general leadership, direction, and codrdina- 
tion. Where problems arise, he will make the ulti- 
mate decisions, so far as these are to be made by the 
professional organization. 

The professional organization as a whole has been 
created to perform a specialized labor for the com- 
munity. It receives its commission entirely from the 
community. What it is to aim at is dictated, whether 
clearly or vaguely, by the public opinion of the com- 
munity. The schools should do what the community 
sanctions; they should not do what the community 
does not sanction. 


282 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


The community has established its representative 
school board to define its judgments relative to the 
various matters involved; and in its representative 
capacity, to take the necessary legal steps. The school 
board, therefore, should have definite policies relative 
to the labors which are to be accomplished by the 
schools. In the nature of the case these policies must 
be general. They should, however, be sufliciently 
definite as to be serviceable as guides in considering the 
more specific plans and policies of the superintendent 
and professional organization in general. In curricu- 
lum-making the board will not initiate the details of 
any of the plans. Their responsibility is carefully to 
examine the plans formulated by the professional 
organization in the light of their policies. They should 
be certain that the plans proposed will eventuate in the 
educational results needed by the community. 

We have said that those who are nearest the edu- 
cational procedures should have a voice in initiat- 
ing the plans for those procedures. As education 
becomes more and more the process of developing 
personal qualities and abilities in human beings, as it 
becomes a process of helping children in all of their ex- 
periences to grow up in the right way, the educational 
responsibilities of parents become more and more 
evident. They have much to do with guiding the de- 
tailed experiences out of which child development 
emerges. It appears therefore as we introduce more 
and more of the project-activity, and part-time work 
at home or otherwhere in the community, we must 


ADMINISTRATIVE SUGGESTIONS 283 


more and more provide for coéperative planning on the 
part of the parents. In spite of their obvious un- 
preparedness, there are certain things which they can 
do even at present. Power on their part to do things 
better than is possible at present is to be developed 
through experience in doing things as well as they can. 
The over-domination of the theory of specialization, 
which has resulted in the isolation of the schools from 
the community life, has created the belief and the 
attitude on the part of both lay and professional that 
the layman bears no responsibility for planning the 
procedures of education; and conversely that ail re- 
sponsibility for the development of the children is 
turned over to the professional organization. Both 
the conceptions and the practices are mischievous in 
their results. 

In the planning of the detailed procedures, it appears 
that it is the teachers, nurses, play directors, and 
parents all together who should coéperatively plan the 
detailed procedures. The line of approval of the plans 
will be through principal, superintendent, and board, 
as indicated. 

On the functional or work-level, the experience of 
those who are most skillful in the actual labors should 
be fully utilized. Education is the process of preparing 
individuals for their adult responsibilities and activ- 
ities. Those who are performing these activities in the 
world of practical affairs, under responsibility, and do- 
ing it successfully, are probably the ones who can know 
most intimately the qualities and abilities which one 


284 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


should possess in order to be successful in that field. 
In formulating a curriculum in printing, the successful 
printers of the community have much valuable expe- 
rience to contribute. And this is true of curriculum- 
making for each occupation. In civic training, those 
who have specialized in civic leadership have much to 
contribute. In preparing for the maintenance of the 
community health, those who have been providing the 
community leadership in health thinking and practice 
possess experience which should be utilized in fullest 
measure. In the same way those who provide the 
community leadership in any field of human function- 
ing have had experience which should be drawn upon 
in planning the training of the oncoming generation. 

The day is past when the superintendent can sit 
down alone in his office and formulate the curriculum 
for his schools. Current developments indicate that 
the day will soon be past when the professional 
organization as a whole can sit down in total isolation 
from those from whom they receive their commission 
and formulate a curriculum without consulting those 
for whom they are agents. The latter is like an 
architect’s drawing up plans for a new building without 
consulting the wishes of the owner. 

Board and superintendent will formulate their 
general curriculum plans and policies relatively in- 
dependently. But in conference they will harmonize 
differences. In case of disagreement, the board will 
decide. 

Superintendent and principals will formulate their 


ADMINISTRATIVE SUGGESTIONS 285 


general and semi-general curriculum plans and policies 
relatively independently; but in conference they will 
harmonize their plans. In case of disagreements which 
will not harmonize, the superintendent will decide. 

Principal and teachers will formulate their semi- 
general and detailed plans relatively independently; 
but in conference they will harmonize their differences. 
Where there remains disagreement after conference, 
the principal will decide. 

In the dealings of the professional organization with 
parents and other lay groups, each will relatively inde- 
pendently formulate its curriculum plans and policies. 
Then in the conference of their representatives, they 
will bring them into harmony with each other. In case 
of disagreement the general public decides. Their 
legalized spokesmen are their representatives, the 
board of education. 

The impression is not to be left that the order of 
these labors is to be that mentioned in the foregoing 
paragraphs. As a matter of fact the labors will be si- 
multaneous and intermingled all along the line. Yet in 
a general way the more generalized levels of initiative 
appear naturally to precede the more detailed ones. 
This is implied in the act of delegating the labors. On 
the other hand the function of overhead approval of 
the specialized labors naturally comes subsequent to 
the performance of the latter. 

The foregoing suggestions appear to comply with 
such principles of educational administration as seem 
to be partially established as the results of experience. 


286 HOW TO MAKE A CURRICULUM 


It must be admitted, however, that these principles are 
as yet pretty uncertain, with the consequence that we 
cannot be dogmatic relative to the suggestions. 

If the suggestions are valid, then the working form 
of organization appears reasonably evident. The 
teachers of the several departments of the work should 
be organized for planning the details. The principals 
should be organized for considering and planning the 
curriculum arrangements for the several buildings as 
the larger educational units. The superintendent to- 
gether with his professional staff of special supervisors 
should be organized for formulating the most general 
professional plans and policies. 

The results of the deliberations at the head of affairs 
will be passed down the line. It will be not as dictation 
but as'suggestion as to the ways things appear from 
their more generalized point of vision. On the other 
hand, the results of the deliberations of those who are 
nearest the detailed labors will be formulated and 
passed up the line for suggestion as to the ways things 
look from their more specialized point of view. As 
the vision of the different levels is thus passed on to 
each other, each can make the corrective which is 
necessary because of his special position within the 
field. The vision, judgment, understanding, and de- 
cision of each level can thus gradually become the 
vision, judgment, and decision of all the levels. Only 
thus in the management can we have both efficiency 
and democracy. 


INDEX 


Ability, nature of, 30-31. 

Accessory training, 51, 171, 263, 
277. 

Activity-analysis, 8-11, 33-35, 
38-40, 97, 165, 219-21, 256-58, 
267-69. 

Additional opportunities. 
Extras. 

Administration of curriculum- 
making, 1-6, 32-43, 280-86. 
#isthetic appreciation, 85, 220- 
23, 226, 231-33. 
Aims of education. 

tives. 

Algebra, 67, 157-61. 

Amateur ability in fine arts, 197, 
226, 233. 

Analyses. See Activity-analysis. 

Arithmetic, 146-50, 158-59. 

Art, in general education, 69; in 
community life, 219-25; objec- 
tives, 225-26; guiding princi- 
ples, 226-28. 

Articulation of elementary and 
secondary education, 30, 43, 
59-61, 96. 

Astronomy, 21, 136, 142. 

Avocations. See Leisure occupa- 
tions. 


See 


See Objec- 


Basic training, 69-72. 
Biology, 21, 136, 142. 
Botany, 21, 136, 142. 


Care of pets and other live ani- 
mals, 192, 208, 214. 

Care of the person, 197. 

Chemistry, 21, 136, 142. 

Citizenship training. See Social 
studies. 


Civics, 120-23. 

Clothing activities, 193-95, 208, 
214. 

College, Junior, objectives, 30; 
general program, 68-75. 

Community needs, in general, 
7-29; analysis, 33-41; need of 
literature and reading, 76-80; 
science, 129-33; mathematics, 
146-54; health, 165; practical 
arts, 177-85, 199-201, 209-13; 
art, 219-25; music, 229-32; 
modern language, 256-60; 
Latin, 267-74; English, 238-42, 

Community responsibility in 
curriculum-making, 36, 38-39, 
281-86. 

Composition. See English. 
Comprehensive list of abilities, 
11-29, 43, 89-90, 101, 141. 

Constants, 65-66, 68-70. 

*“Consumer”’ education, litera- 
ture, 88; science, 135, 144; 
mathematics, 159; practical 
arts, 182, 203, 215-16; art, 221, 
226; music, 231. 

Cooking, 195-96, 214. 

Culture, 258. 

Curriculums, differentiated, 41- 
42, 68-72. 


Departmental organization, 72. 

Design. See Art. 

Diagnosis, educational, 171, 202, 
215-16, 248; social, 35-36. 

Differentiation. See Individual 
differences, and Specialization. 

Discipline, general, as objective, 
32-33; in mathematics, 155-57, 
159, 161-63; Manual training, 


288 


199; modern languages, 259, 
265; Latin, 272-75, 278. 
Discussion, 57, 60, 95, 104, 113. 
Domestic Arts. See Practical 
Arts of Women. 
Drawing. See Art. 


Economics, 119-20. 

Education, concepts of, 44. 

Educational guidance, 68-75. 

Electives, 66-67, 68-70. 

Electrical appliances, 
207, 214. 

Elementary school, objectives, 
30; pupil activities, 60-61; 
general program, 68-72. 

English language, in general edu- 
cation, 69; manner of function- 
ing, 238-39; purposes and 
methods, 239-46; guiding prin- 
ciples, 246-52; objectives, 252- 
53; pupil activities, 253-55. 

Errors. See Diagnosis. 

Etymology, 269-72, 275. 

Exploratory courses. See Short- 
unit courses. 

Extra-mural activities, 49-51, 85, 
134, 138, 171, 204, 217, 227, 235. 

Extras, 69-72. 


189-90, 


Financial activities, 197-98, 208, 
214. 

Fine Arts. See Art, Music, Lit- 
erature. 

Food Activities, 195-96, 214. 

Foundational education, 63-65. 

French, 257. 

Functional education, 65-66. 

Fundamental training, 51, 171, 
263, 277. 

Furniture repair and construc- 
tion, 187, 207. 


Games and sports, 12-13, 166, 
* 170-73. 


INDEX 


Gardening, 190-92, 208, 214. 

General education, 63-75. 

Generalization, in general, 58-59; 
literature, 86-87; Social stud- 
ies, 103, 112-13; history, 116; 
geography, 118; economics, 
119; civics, 122; psychology, 
125; science, 139-40. 

General Mental Efficiency, 20- 
25. 

General Reading. See Literature. 

General Social Contacts and Re- 
lationships, 18. 

Geography, objectives, 102-06; 
relation to other subjects, 109- 
12; guiding principles, 117-19. 

Geology, 21, 136, 142. 

Geometry, 159-61. 

Grade objectives, 43. 

Grammar, 11, 33, 241, 246, 248- 
54. 

Guiding principles and assump- 
tions, literature, 81-87; social 
studies, 107-15; history, 115- 
16; geography, 117-19; eco- 
nomics, 119-20; civics, 120-23; 
occupations, 123-24; mental 
traits, 125-26; science, 136-41; 
mathematics, 158-62; physical 
training, 170-75; practical arts 
of men, 202-06; practical arts 
of women, 215-18; visual art, 
226-28; music, 233-37; modern 
languages, 260-64; Latin, 275- 
78; English language, 246-52. 

Gymnastics, 166, 171-74. 


Habits, 22-24, 30-31. 

Handwriting, 12, 49, 50, 241, 243, 
245, 248, 252, 254. 

Health training. See Physical 
training. 

High school, senior, objectives, 
30; pupil activities, 60-61; 
general program, 68-75. 


INDEX 


History, objectives, 102-06; rela- 
tion to other subjects, 109-12; 
guiding principles, 115-16. 

Home economics. See Practical 
arts of women. 

Home management, 188, 207, 
213-14. 

Home-planning, 187-88, 207, 213. 

Home repairs, specific activities, 
186-87; objectives of manual 
training, 207. 

Hygiene. See Physical training. 

Hypothesis, 10, 99-101. 

Incidental education, 153-54. 
See Extra-mural. 

Indirect observation, 19, 53-56, 
76-77, 135-36. 

Individual differences, 41-42, 61- 
62, 66, 71-72, 156, 171, 227. 
Ingredients of any specific abil- 

ity, 30, 31, 21-25. 

Interests, 21, '78, 126, 132-34. 


Job-analysis, 29, 97. 

Junior High School, objectives, 
30; pupil activities, 60-61; gen- 
eral program, 68-75. 


Kindergarten objectives, 30. 


Laboratory activities, 47, 59, 
134, 200. 

Language, objectives, 11-13; as 
experience, 53-56; English, 
238-55; modern, 256-66; 
Latin, 267-79. 

Latin, in general education, 69; 
in community life, 267-69; rela- 
tion to English, 269-72; gen- 
eral discipline, 272-74; guiding 
principles, 275-78; objectives, 
278-79. 

Laundry, 195, 214. 

Lay participation in curriculum- 


289 


making. See Community Re- 
sponsibility. 

Leisure occupations, objectives, 
18-20; preparation for, 63-64; 
literature, 79, 83, 90; relation 
to social studies, 104-05, 111, 
115; science, 132; mathematics, 
155-57, 161; physical training, 
166, 170-73; avocations, 183- 
84, 197; art, 225-26; music, 
229-37; modern language, 
259-60; Latin, 272-74. 

Length of training, 73-75. 

Literature, in genera] education, 
69; functions, 76-80; guiding 
principles, 81-87; objectives, 
90-93; pupil activities, 94-96; 
as social study, 124; foreign, 
262; ancient, 268. 


Maintenance of physical effi- 
ciency, 12-15, 165-176. 

Major fields of human action, 8- 
9, 11-29. 

Manual training. See Practical 
arts of men. 

Mental traits and_ tendencies, 
125-26. 

Methods, educational, 44-62. 
See Guiding principles, and Pu- 
pil activities. 

Minimum essentials, 42. 

Modern languages, in general 
education, 69; in community 
life, 256-58; general discipline, 
258-60; guiding principles, 
260-64; objectives, 265; pupil 
activities, 265-66. 

Moral training, 15-20, 21-26. 
See Literature, Social studies, 
Science. 

Music, in general education, 69; 
in community life, 229-32; ob- 
jectives, 232-33; guiding prin- 
ciples, 233-37. 


290 


Natural science. See Science. 

Objectives, general discussion, 7— 
11; social intercommunication, 
11-12; health, 12-15; citizen- 
ship, 15-17; social, 18; leisure 
occupations, 18, 20; mental ef- 
ficiency, 20-25; religious, 25- 
26; parenthood, 26-28; un- 
specialized practical arts, 28- 
29, and 186-98; occupational, 
29; literature and general read- 
ing, 90-93; social studies, 
102-06; science, 141-43; math- 
ematics, 162; physical educa- 
tion, 166-68; practical arts of 
men, 207-08; practical arts of 
women, 213-15; drawing, 225- 
26; music, 232-33; English lan- 
guage, 252-53; modern lan- 
guages, 265; Latin, 278. 

Observation, leisure occupations, 
18; fundamental activity, 45- 
48; indirect, 53-57; literature, 
76-77, 90; social studies, 104, 
RIO LAG LIS, iS te 125, 
127; science, 132-36. 

Obstacles to curriculum-making, 
2-3, 33, 36, 39, 44-45, 97- 
99. 

Occupations, study of, 75, 123- 
24, 200, 208, 215. 

Oral Report, 56. 

Parental responsibilities, 26- 
28. 

Participation, general type of ex- 
perience, 48-53. See Vicarious 
participation. 

Part-time education, 49-51, 121, 
217. . 

Patterns of conduct, 47-48. 

Physical training, in general pro- 
gram, 69; objectives, 12-15, 
166-68; guiding principles, 


INDEX 


170-75; pupil activities, 175- 
76 


Physics, 21, 136, 142. 

Pictures, 56-57, 60, 115, 118, 138. 

Place of educational experiences. 
See Extra-mural activities. 

Play, objectives, 12-13, 18-20; 
as process, 63-65; intellectual 
play, literature, 76-79, 83; so- 
cial studies, 104, 111, 115; 
science, 132, 137; mathemat- 
ics, 155-57; physical training, 
166, 172-74; modern lan- 
guages, 259, 261; Latin, 273- 
74, 277. 

Plumber, 97. 

Political science. See Civics. 

Practical activities, 48-53. 

Practical Arts, general, 177-98; 
for men, 199-208; for women, 
209-18. 

Practical Arts of Men, in general 
education, 69; values, 199-201; 
guiding principles, 202-06; ob- 
jectives, 206-08. 

Practical Arts of Women, in gen- 
eral education, 69; place and 
purposes, 209-13; objectives, 
213-15; guiding principles, 
215-18. 

Preparation for college, 30, 75, 
85, 153. 

Principal, 280, 284-86. 

Problem-solving, 58, 113, 118, 
119, 139, 158. 

Program of studies, 69-70. 

Progress objectives, 43. 

Project-method, 50, 204, 217. 

Prolonging and intensifying ex- 
periences, 57-58. 

Protection from fire, 190, 208, 
214. 

Psychology, 125-26. 

Public speaking, 70. 

Pupil activities, general discus- 


INDEX 


sion, 44-62; literature, 94-96; 
social studies, 126-28; science, 
143-45; mathematics, 163-64; 
physical training, 175-76; Eng- 
lish language, 253-55; modern 
languages, 265-66. 

Purposes of education. 
jectives, 


See Ob- 


Quantitative thought, 146-55. 


Reading, language objectives, 12; 
leisure occupations, 19; funda- 
mental experiences, 53-56; in 
general education, 69; litera- 
ture, 76-96; in history, 115; in 
science, 135-36, 139, 142; in 
health education, 174-75; art, 
228; modern language, 261-65; 
Latin, 267-68, 275-78. 

Religious Attitudes, 25-26, 92- 
93, 105-06, 143. 


Sanitation. 
ing. 

School Board, 282, 284-85. 

School finance, 147. 

Science, in general program, 69; 
functions, 129-34; pupil activ- 
ities, 134-36, 143-45; guid- 
ing principles, 136-41; objec- 
tives, 141-43; as related to 
practical arts, 205, 216. 

Scientific method in curriculum- 
making, 4-5, 9, 33-35. 

Self-direction of pupil activities, 
85, 139, 171-73, 204, 217, 262, 
217. 

Sewing, 193-94, 214. 

Shop-work. See Practical arts 
of men. 

Short-unit courses, 199-200, 203- 
04,217, 227. 

Social Intercommunication, ob- 
jectives, 8, 11-12. 


See Physical train- 


291 


Social studies, in general educa- 
tion, 69; objectives, 97-106; 
guiding principles, 106-26; pu- 
pil activities, 126-30. 

Spare-time activities. 
sure occupations. 

Specialization, 29, 66, 72-75, 87, 
116, 177-84, 228, 236, 264, 276. 

Specialized education. See Voca- 
tional education. 

Spelling, 12, 33, 241, 243, 248, 
252, 254. 

Subjects, the objectives, 43; of 
general education, 69-70. 

Superintendent, 281, 284-86. 

Survey, general, 1-2, 5, 8-9; spe- 
cific, see Activity-analysis. 

Swimming, 13, 36, 104. 


See Lei- 


Teachers, 280, 285-86. 

Thought, relation to language, 
53, 238-40, 246-47, 257, 267. 

Travel, 192-93, 208, 214. 

Trigonometry, 67, 157, 159-61. 

Type-writing, 70. 


Ultimate objectives, 30, 43. 
Unanalyzed objectives, 32-33. 
Units of training, 72-75. 
Unspecialized practical activities 
in general education, 69; in 
physical maintenance, 166, 
172; the problem, 177-80; 
values, 180-85; list of specific 
activities, 186-98; for men, 
199-208; for women, 209-18. 


Vicarious participation, 19, 77, 
82, 108-10, 117. 

Visual art. See Art. 

Vocabulary, 240, 250, 252, 269- 
712, 275, 278. 

Vocational education, objectives, 
29, 43; distinguished from gen- 
eral education, 66-67; on the 


292 INDEX 


program, 68-75; in literature, | Vocational guidance, 59-60. 

87; related science, 140-41; re- 

lated mathematics, 160; re-| Work-level. See Functional edu- 
lated art, 228; in music, 236;| cation. 

related modern languages, 264; 

Latin, 272. Zoology, 21, 136, 142. 


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